Astronaut Noguchi says the SpaceX ship offered the “best” flight for the ISS

Washington – Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi said Thursday that the US company SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ship provided “the best” ride compared to the other two spacecraft – the US Space Shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz aircraft – which it previously flew missions to. the International Space Station.

“Dragon is the best, short answer. And of course each vehicle has its own quirks, but I feel Dragon is really ready to go … It’s fun to drive, “Noguchi, 55, said during a press conference at the ISS with other NASA astronauts. only active astronaut to launch aboard three different types of spacecraft.

The Dragon crew, carrying Noguchi and three American astronauts, docked with the ISS on Monday following its takeoff on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida the day before.

Noguchi described the sensation as if the spacecraft “really wanted to go into space” as the rocket was powered up in the minutes before takeoff, as well as when vibrations hit the thrusters firing out of its window seat.

“It feels like you’re really inside a dragon, which takes us into space, so it was a great feeling,” he said.

It was the second manned flight to the orbiting laboratory by the commercially developed spacecraft, following a test flight earlier this year with two NASA astronauts. Noguchi was selected as the first non-NASA astronaut to fly aboard the Crew Dragon.

“I am very honored and honored to fly three vehicles after Mr. John Young and Wally Schirra,” Noguchi said, referring to two NASA astronauts who are the only others known to have been launched on three types of spacecraft.

But he also welcomed the fact that more astronauts are expected to follow suit through a series of Crew Dragon’s planned missions, signaling the excitement of flying in a new spaceship in the future.

“The race (has) just begun for who will be the first” to fly in four different spacecraft, he said, adding, “So watch out for this.”

Noguchi is a veteran astronaut with experience on two previous missions, having been aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2005 – the first Space Shuttle mission since the loss of Columbia in 2003 – and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 161-day stay on the ISS between 2009 and 2010.

Noguchi and the three NASA astronauts will stay on the ISS for six months and conduct science experiments, among other activities. Their arrival brought the total number of members aboard the ISS to seven.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration stressed the importance of sending more astronauts to the ISS, which increases scientific research capacity in space.

According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, 51, is expected to fly aboard the next ISS Crew Dragon mission in the spring to serve as commander.

Also on Friday, Science Minister Koichi Hagiuda said Koichi Wakata and Satoshi Furukawa are scheduled for long-term missions to the International Space Station.

Wakata, 57, will begin his stay on the ISS around 2022 and Furukawa, 56, around 2023, Hagiuda said at a press conference.

For Wakata, who made his first ISS flight aboard a NASA Space Shuttle in 1996, the next mission will be his fifth, while Furukawa’s mission to the space station will be the second after his first flight aboard. of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2011.

JAXA will recruit a group of potential astronauts this fall to send a lunar exploration project as part of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis program.