Akiyama
Akiyama
Credit - www.spacefacts.de
Tohiro Akiyama Japanese Journalist Cosmonaut. Born 22 July 1942. First Japanese to fly in space.

Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Setagaya Ward, Japan. Civilian Japanese journalist for TBS Tokyo Broadcasting System. He had also worked for the BBC in London (1967 - 1971).

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Japanese Commercial Group - 1989. Inactive Entered space service: 17 August 1989. Left space service: 10 December 1990. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.91 days. Flew into space on a commercial Japanese journalist flight. Reporter for the Japanese TBS Tokyo Broadcasting System.

Deputy Director of the TBS News Division. Resigned in 1995 from TBS to pursue private interests.

Sailing, hiking, swimming. Later he was an active balloonist.

Akiyama Spaceflight Log

  • 2 December 1990 Flight: Mir Kosmoreporter. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-11. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-10. Flight Time: 7.91 days.
Akiyama Chronology

17 August 1989 - Japanese Commercial Cosmonaut Training Group selected.. Japanese journalists trained for a commercial flight to the Mir space station.

2 December 1990 - Soyuz TM-11. Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight: Mir EO-8, Mir Kosmoreporter, Mir EO-7. Docked with Mir. Mir Expedition EO-08. Transported to the Mir manned orbital station the international crew consisting of the cosmonauts V M Afanasyev, M Kh Manarov, and T Akiyami (Japan) for the purpose of carrying out joint work with the cosmonauts G M Manakov and G M Strekalov. Launched jointly with the private Japanese company TBS. The Japanese television network ended up paying $ 28 million for the first commercial flight to Mir to put Akiyama, the first journalist in space aboard Soyuz TM-11. Akiyama made daily television broadcasts.
10 December 1990 - Landing of Soyuz TM-10. Assignment: Return Crew. Flight: Mir EO-7, Mir Kosmoreporter, Mir EO-8. Soyuz TM-10 landed at 06:07 GMT, 69 km NW Arkalyk, with the crew of Akiyama, Manakov and Strekalov aboard.
Bibliography and Further Reading
  • Becker, Joachim, http://www.spacefacts.de/, "Space Facts Web Site", . Joachim Becker's outstanding collection of facts and photos of astronauts and cosmonauts. Accessed at: http://www.spacefacts.de/.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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