Published: 8/21/1998

Would-be Japanese cosmonaut Soichi Noguchi has completed an accelerated four-week training in Russia and is planned for a flight to the future International Space Station (ISS). Usually, a cosmonaut is trained for 1.5-2 years, but Noguchi learned all the basic skills in the shorter time, including the space launch, docking and landing: he tested the suit for space walks and was acquainted with the Russian Mir orbiting station specifics. Noguchi, 33, has already passed basic training in the United States. Now, as he put it, he would share his Russian experience with his colleagues in Japan. Representative of the Japanese space agency, Yasushi Horikawa, said Japan needs to have a highly-skilled team for ISS flights. Japan paid US$130,000 for Noguchi's training. In 1990, jounalists from the Japanese TBS TV company trained for a space flight in Russia and one of them, Toiohiro Akiyama, visited the Mir station. Russia has trained over 30 international crews with representatives from 17 countries. (SP898.4) (VZ)  

Article ID: 267