14 Facts About Soichi Noguchi

Soichi Noguchi is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former JAXA astronaut.

Soichi Noguchi was in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station, returning to Earth on 2 June 2010.

Soichi Noguchi is the sixth Japanese astronaut to fly in space, the fifth to fly on the Space Shuttle, and the first to fly on Crew Dragon.

Soichi Noguchi became a part-time lecturer at the graduate school of the University of Tokyo since 2011, a project professor since 2021.

Soichi Noguchi retired from astronaut duty and quit JAXA on 1 June 2022.

Soichi Noguchi assumed the honorary director of CupNoodles Museum since 7 June 2022, the chief executive fellow of the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies and the advisor of IHI Corporation since 1 July 2022.

Soichi Noguchi holds flight instructor certificate as CFII and MEI.

Soichi Noguchi was selected as an astronaut candidate by the National Space Development Agency of Japan in June 1996.

Soichi Noguchi was assigned to technical support for the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station.

In 2013, Soichi Noguchi served as cavenaut into the ESA CAVES training in Sardinia, alongside David Saint-Jaques, Andreas Mogensen, Nikolai Tikhonov, Andrew Feustel and Michael Fincke.

Soichi Noguchi, joined by Kotov and Creamer undocked from the station and returned to Earth on 1 June 2010, the trio touched down in Kazakhstan following 163 days in space, bringing Soichi Noguchi's total time in space to 177 days.

Soichi Noguchi launched alongside NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, on 15 November 2020.

Soichi Noguchi currently holds the world record of the longest gap between two consecutive spacewalks by the same person - 15 years and 214 days.

On 2 August 2015, Soichi Noguchi spoke to 33,628 fellow Scouts during the Arena Event at the 23rd World Scout Jamboree, held in Japan.