Satoshi Furukawa 古川 聡 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2004 | |
| Born | (1964-04-04)April 4, 1964 (age 61) |
| Status | Active |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Space career | |
| NASDA/JAXA astronaut | |
Time in space | 366 days, 8 hours and 34 minutes |
| Selection | 1999 NASDA Group |
| Missions | Soyuz TMA-02M (Expedition 28/29),SpaceX Crew-7 (Expedition 69/70) |
Mission insignia |      |
Satoshi Furukawa (古川 聡,Furukawa Satoshi; born April 4, 1964) is a Japanesesurgeon andJAXAastronaut. Furukawa was assigned to theInternational Space Station as a flight engineer on long-duration missionsExpedition 28/29 (2011) andExpedition 69/70 (2023-2024).
Furakawa graduated from Eiko high school, Kamakura, in 1983; he received aDoctor of Medicine degree from theUniversity of Tokyo in 1989, and aDoctor of Philosophy degree in Medical Science from the same in 2000.
From 1989 to 1999, Furukawa worked in the Department of Surgery at the University of Tokyo, as well as the Department of Anesthesiology at JR Tokyo General Hospital, the Department of Surgery at Ibaraki Prefectural Central Hospital, and at Sakuragaoka Hospital.
In February 1999, Furukawa was selected by theNational Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) as one of three Japanese astronaut candidates for theInternational Space Station (ISS). He started the ISSAstronaut Basic Training program in April 1999 and was certified as an astronaut in January 2001.
Since April 2001, he has been participating in ISS Advanced Training, as well as supporting the development of the hardware and operation of theJapanese ISS Experimental ModuleKibō.
On October 1, 2003, NASDA merged with ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) and NAL (National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan) and was renamed JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
In May 2004, he completedSoyuz-TMA Flight Engineer-1 training at theYuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC), Star City, Russia.
Furukawa arrived at theJohnson Space Center in June 2004. In February 2006 he completed NASA Astronaut Candidate Training that included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction inShuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training,T-38 Talon flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Completion of this initial training qualified him for various technical assignments within the NASA Astronaut Office and for flight assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle missions.[1]
In August 2007, Furukawa served as anaquanaut during theNEEMO 13 project, an exploration research mission held inAquarius, the world's onlyundersea research laboratory.[2]
In 2013, Furukawa served as cavenaut[3] into theESA CAVES training inSardinia, alongsideJeremy Hansen,Michael Barratt,Jack Fisher,Aleksei Ovchinin, andPaolo Nespoli.
Furukawa was assigned as a flight engineer to theInternational Space StationExpedition 28/29 long duration missions. TheSoyuz TMA-02M spacecraft carrying Furukawa, cosmonautSergey Volkov and NASA astronautMichael Fossum lifted off from the Baikonour Cosmodrome on 7 June 2011.[4] Carrying the same crew, Soyuz TMA-02M undocked from the ISS at 11:00 pmUTC on 21 November 2011. The spacecraft soft-landed safely—albeit on its side—inKazakhstan at 2:26 am UTC on 22 November.[5]
In 2023-2024, he completed a second long-duration flight to the ISS as a mission specialist onExpedition 69/70, lifting off on theCrew-7 mission of aSpaceX Crew Dragon on 26 August 2023 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and returning to Earth on 12 March 2024.[6]
In 2016 and 2017, Furukawa was overseeing a two-week-long spaceflight analog mission in Tsukuba, a city northeast of Tokyo. 40 participants were confined to closed environments to simulate what astronauts experience during spaceflight, and their stress levels and mental well-being were to be assessed by two researchers. The researchers fabricated research data, compiling psychological assessments without actually conducting interviews and rewriting participant diagnoses. They also claimed that three researchers had conducted the interviews when there were only two. In November 2020, JAXA began investigating the research results and subsequently suspended the 190 million yen ($1.4 million) experiment. Furukawa was officially reprimanded by JAXA due to his role as project supervisor. However, since he was not personally involved in fabricating the data, Furukawa was allowed to remain on the current ISS mission in 2023.[7]
Furukawa was born inYokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. He enjoys baseball, bowling, music, and traveling. He is married and has two children.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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