Soichi Noguchi

Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former JAXA astronaut.

Soichi Noguchi was born in 1965 in Yokohama, Japan.

He considers Chigasaki, Japan, to be his hometown.

He holds flight instructor certificate as CFII and MEI.

Noguchi was a Boy Scout.

His hobbies include jogging, basketball, skiing and camping.

Noguchi graduated from Chigasaki-Hokuryo High School (Chigasaki, Kanagawa) in 1984, and then studied at the University of Tokyo, earning a B.S. degree in 1989 and an M.S. degree in 1991, both in Aeronautical Engineering.

Noguchi was selected as an astronaut candidate by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (now part of JAXA) in June 1996.

In August 1996, he reported to NASA's Johnson Space Center for NASA astronaut training.

Noguchi qualified as a mission specialist after two years, and received training on Russian space systems at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in 1998.

He was assigned to technical support for the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station.

In April 2001 Noguchi was assigned to the crew of STS-114 as a mission specialist, which at that point the flight was targeting launch to the ISS in 2003 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, he was assigned to the crew alongside NASA astronauts Eileen Collins (Commander), James Kelly (Pilot) and Stephen Robinson (Mission Specialist), they were also scheduled to be joined by the Expedition 7 crew, who would remain aboard the ISS, replacing the Expedition 6 crew who would land aboard STS-114.

On the first excursion outside, the two tested new techniques for repairing damaged tiles on the shuttle's heat shield, while the second and third spacewalks were both dedicated to upgrading and maintaining the space station, replacing a Control Movement Gyro which had suffered a mechanical failure in 2002 and installing an External stowage platform which was brought up aboard STS-114.

Over the course of the three EVAs Noguchi spent 20 hours and 5 minutes outside the station.

Noguchi and the crew trained for this flight until February 2003, when STS-107, the flight immediately prior to STS-114, broke up while returning to Earth, destroying the Space Shuttle Columbia and killing the seven astronauts on board; following this all shuttle flights were delayed.

Since STS-114 was scheduled to be the next mission to fly following STS-107, its designation and crew were assigned as the "return to flight" mission, their flight remained relatively similar although new tasked needed to verify the changes made to the shuttle and the shuttle flight plan were added to the flight.

Also, the delay in shuttle flights meant the launch of Expedition 7 was moved from STS-114 to Soyuz TMA-2, leaving three more seats to be filled on STS-114, NASA astronauts Charles Camarda, Wendy Lawrence and Andrew Thomas were added to the crew to take their place.

His first spaceflight was as a mission specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster.

STS-114 launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on 26 July 2005, over two years since the Columbia disaster.

The shuttle docked to the ISS two days later, the crew joined the Expedition 11 crew consisting of Russian Commander Sergei Krikalev and American Flight Engineer John Phillips.

Prior to docking to the station, Discovery and its crew performed the first-ever rendezvous pitch maneuver, which allowed the two crew members aboard the station to photograph and observe the shuttle's heat shield, allowing them to discover any possible damage on the spacecraft's heat shield.

The maneuver was added following the Columbia disaster, which was caused by damage to the heat shield.

During his first stay aboard the station, Noguchi performed three spacewalks, all three alongside Robinson.

Noguchi and his crew mates returned to Earth on 9 August 2005, carrying over 7,055 pounds of equipment and trash down from the station inside of a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which had been used to bring up supplies to the station two weeks earlier.

Discovery's landing at the Kennedy Space Center wrapped up a 13-day, 21 hour, 32 minute and 48 second spaceflight.

Following STS-114, Noguchi was assigned as a backup ISS Flight Engineer for JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, who became the first Japanese astronaut to live long duration aboard the space station.

Following his assignment as a backup for Wakata, JAXA assigned Noguchi to the crew of ISS Expedition 22/23 alongside Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer.

He was also in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station (ISS), returning to Earth on 2 June 2010.

He is the sixth Japanese astronaut to fly in space, the fifth to fly on the Space Shuttle, and the first to fly on Crew Dragon.

He became a part-time lecturer at the graduate school of the University of Tokyo since 2011, a project professor since 2021.

he is a project professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Nihon University.

He retired from astronaut duty and quit JAXA on 1 June 2022.

He assumed the honorary director of CupNoodles Museum since 7 June 2022, the chief executive fellow of the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies and the advisor of IHI Corporation since 1 July 2022.

He is the representative of MiraiSpace Co., Ltd. (合同会社未来圏).

In 2013, Noguchi served as cavenaut into the ESA CAVES training in Sardinia, alongside David Saint-Jaques, Andreas Mogensen, Nikolai Tikhonov, Andrew Feustel and Michael Fincke.

His third flight was on board the Dragon 2 capsule for the SpaceX Crew-1 mission which launched successfully on 15 November 2020 and landed on 2 May 2021.

This makes him the third astronaut to fly on three different launch systems.

Later on, he furthermore obtained a Ph.D. degree in Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies in 2020, also from the University of Tokyo.

After graduation, Noguchi worked for Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, assigned to the research and development department of their Aero-Engine and Space Operations division.

He worked on aerodynamic design of commercial engines.