Koichi Wakata

Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions, a Russian Soyuz mission and a longduration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two decade career in spaceflight he has logged more than eleven months in space. During Expedition 39, he became the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. Wakata flew on the Soyuz TMA11MExpedition 38Expeditionlong duration spaceflight, fromNovember 2013 toMay 2014. During this spaceflight he was accompanied by Kirobo, the first humanoid robot astronaut.

Wakata was born in miya, Saitama, Japan, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1987, a Master of Science degree in Applied Mechanics in 1989, and a Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering in 2004 from Kyushu University. He worked as a structural engineer for Japan Airlines.

Source: Wikipedia