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Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi traveled to the International Space Station on a space shuttle and a Russian capsule. He is now preparing for launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship, becoming only the third person to launch from Earth into orbit in three different types of spacecraft.
He will join a small club that, so far, only includes NASA astronauts Wally Schirra and John Young. Schirra flew NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules, while Young flew into orbit on two Gemini flights, two Apollo missions, and two space shuttle launches.
“It’s a real honor to have the same experience as Mr. John Young did,” said Noguchi. “I still remember my candidacy days as an astronaut, when I returned here in 1996, John Young was still flying T-38. So I had the privilege of flying with him. So it’s definitely an honor. “
Noguchi flew to the space station in 2005 aboard the space shuttle Discovery during the first shuttle mission since the Columbia crash in 2003, in which seven astronauts died on reentry. It was launched again in 2009 on a Russian Soyuz rocket for a 164-day expedition to the space station.
“For me, the three different spacecraft also have three different landing methods,” Noguchi told Spaceflight Now in a recent interview. “The first was on a runway, with concrete, the second was on land in Kazakhstan, and this is in the ocean. So the three different landing types will make it really interesting. “
Noguchi is flying to the space station under an agreement between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. NASA provides rides to the station for Japanese, European, and Canadian astronauts in exchange for partner agencies paying their share of the space station’s operating costs.
“It’s pretty cool that we don’t have our own spacecraft in Japan, but based on international cooperation, we are able to accomplish this kind of big milestone,” Noguchi said. “There are obviously a lot more people behind me. So this is just the beginning, but we are happy to witness this historic flight. “
Within a few years, the Crew Dragon, Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule, NASA’s Orion spacecraft, and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft will all fly with astronauts to destinations in Earth orbit and beyond. This means that more space flyers will soon have the opportunity to launch from Earth and land on three or more types of vehicles, joining Schirra, Young and Noguchi.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This list does not include Apollo astronauts who were also launched from the moon inside NASA’s lunar module, as well as launching from Earth on several rockets.)
Noguchi, a 55-year-old aeronautical engineer with two space missions to his credit, has logged more than 177 days in orbit to date. It is ready to kick off its third space flight on Sunday, starting an expedition scheduled to last nearly six months.
Noguchi will join NASA Commander Mike Hopkins, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Shannon Walker on the Crew Dragon capsule when it takes off Sunday evening from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew Dragon will take off atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:27 PM EST Sunday (0027 GMT Monday), weather permitting.
Noguchi and his crewmates are embarking on a six-month mission aboard the space station, which will culminate with a parachute-assisted landing in early May on their Crew Dragon spacecraft, which the astronauts have called “Resilience.”
The launch this weekend will mark the crew’s first regular rotation flight – known as Crew-1 – to the space station with the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, after a two-person test flight to the station at the beginning of this. year.
In the future, crews of four will be the norm in Crew Dragon missions. NASA also has a contract with Boeing to fly the Starliner crew capsules to the space station.
NASA spent about $ 5 billion to help SpaceX and Boeing develop the Crew Dragon and Starliner systems, according to Phil McAlister, the agency’s director of commercial space flights. The companies have also invested their money in the program through public-private partnerships with NASA.
Noguchi, who was a boy scout when he was growing up in Japan, also has experience with different types of spacesuits.
He wore NASA’s orange launch and entry suit on his shuttle flight, and then wore Russia’s Sokol pressurized suit when he launched and landed on the Soyuz spacecraft. SpaceX’s flight suit serves a similar purpose to the shuttle and Sokol suits, providing a survival environment for the astronaut in case the Crew Dragon spacecraft depressurizes in flight.
“It’s a little different,” Noguchi said of the SpaceX pressure suit. “The good thing about SpaceX is that it’s simple. The bad thing is it’s simple … It’s very simple, so there are fewer points of failure, and it’s very light, and that’s great.
“Because of the simplicity, there are sometimes little flaws,” he told Spaceflight Now. “There are some things you can’t really do, like depressurizing the suit is difficult compared to the Soyuz and the shuttle. But simplicity is beauty, and it’s light weight and overall it’s a beautiful design. I like it.”
Noguchi praised SpaceX’s “speed and flexibility” as the Dragon crew trained at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles.
“Everything was close, which means that during the training, if I had deep questions, technical questions, the engineer who created those displays was just across the floor, or the engineer who actually built it was a floor more. down below, ”Noguchi said. “So we can actually talk to the source of that information, and if we sometimes need to change displays, sometimes we have to change the position of a pump and, with good reason, they can adapt to those changes.
“It is not so uncommon that in one day they would change the display, or in a few days the hardware would change completely,” Noguchi said. “That speed and flexibility that I really liked about SpaceX.”
Noguchi said he came across “unavoidable” restrictions on export control restrictions related to US regulations on international arms trafficking, or ITAR.
“I am a foreign citizen, so there are a lot of ITAR problems,” Noguchi said. “Those issues relating to technical and information exchange agreements are always present. It is inevitable. “
Export control regulations restrict access to satellite hardware and technical drawings for foreign nationals.
“I try not to be considered a spy, and I would also like to get the information to become a safe operator,” said Noguchi. “So getting a diagram, drawing or paper is really difficult. But, of course, SpaceX and my crew are really helping me understand and become a good operator.
“To safely use a complex vehicle like Crew Dragon, we need to have an appropriate understanding of the system and, in that sense, SpaceX has been quite cooperative in trying to dodge the bullet, to make sure we don’t violate those ITAR rules,” Noguchi said. .
Noguchi said he encountered similar headwinds while training for his Soyuz mission in Russia.
“For the Russian Soyuz, yes, we have constantly faced these problems,” he said. “But we have a long-lasting relationship with Russia, so we know how to dodge the bullet. We know the safe thing to do.
“Compared to SpaceX, it’s obviously a new thing, a new challenge for them,” Noguchi said. “Obviously I’m the first student for them other than an American, so they tried to make sure that we – SpaceX and I – didn’t violate the regulations, and at the same time they could train me as a good operator. So it was a challenge. “
European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet is training to fly the Crew-2 mission on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule next year.
“Fortunately, after me, we have other foreign astronauts in training, so hopefully they will have a much smoother experience with SpaceX and Boeing alike,” Noguchi said.
“Of course we are cautious,” said Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s division for human space flights. “When he first flew (on the space shuttle), it was on a system we owned. The other thing is that the vision of your vehicle also depends on what the crew member has to do. “
Hopkins and Glover began training to pilot the Crew Dragon spacecraft in 2018, while Noguchi and Walker joined the crew earlier this year. Hopkins and Glover, the commander and the pilot, are trained to take manual control of the spacecraft if its autopilot system encounters problems while docking or uncoupling from the space station.
Noguchi and Walker are more like passengers during the Crew Dragon launch and landing.
“I think we’ll just have to keep working on it,” Lueders said of training international astronauts. “Speaking with the crew, we discussed … Are you getting the training you need to be able to do what you need to do?”
Lueders said NASA and JAXA managers are pleased with the training of the Dragon’s crew, including Noguchi. On Tuesday, the JAXA representative gave his “go-ahead” to proceed with the mission during a flight readiness review.
“We’ve been working with JAXA for a while, and I think that was pretty obvious from the way they were able to say ‘go’ on Tuesday,” Lueders said.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
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