NASA Names Doi to Shuttle Crew to Launch Japanese Module

WASHINGTON, May 5 /PRNewswire/ — NASA; Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency have named Japanese astronaut Takao Doi to the space shuttle crew that will deliver the first module of the Japanese laboratory, Kibo, to the International Space Station.

Doi is the first crew member named to the mission, which will be the eighth of the upcoming space shuttle missions to the space station. Doi’s duties will involve attachment and initial set-up of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module. Doi’s crew mates will be named at a later date.

The mission will be Doi’s second space flight. During his first flight, shuttle mission STS-87 in 1997, he performed two spacewalks.

Doi holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Tokyo. He also has a doctorate in astronomy from Rice University, Houston.

For complete biographies of Doi, NASA and International Space Station partner astronauts, visit:

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NASA

CONTACT: Katherine Trinidad, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-3749,or Doug Peterson, Johnson Space Center, Houston, +1-281-483-5111, both ofNASA

Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios