1. Home
  2. JAXA Astronauts
  3. Astronauts YUI Kimiya

YUI Kimiya

JAXA Astronaut

Share

Profile

YUI Kimiya Today

In addition to continuing training to maintain and improve his skills as an astronaut, while providing mission and mission preparation support to Japanese astronauts.

Missions

Social Media

JAXA Digital Archives

Background

YUI Kimiya was born in 1970 in Nagano. In 2015, he spent 142 days aboard the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer as part of the crew of Expeditions 44 and 45. During this stay, he controlled the robotics used in the capture of “KOUNOTORI5 (HTV5)” and conducted both Japanese and international scientific and medical experiments utilizing the space environment.

JAXA Astronaut Yui
YUI
Kimiya
1970

Born in Nagano, Japan.

March, 1992

Graduated from the School of Science and Engineering at the National Defense Academy of Japan.

April, 1992

Joined Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Japan Defense Agency (currently Ministry of Defense).

December, 2008

Joined the Air Staff Office (ASO) at the Ministry of Defense as a Lieutenant Colonel.

February, 2009

Selected by JAXA as a Japanese astronaut candidate to work on the International Space Station (ISS).

April, 2009

Joined JAXA.
Commenced Astronaut Candidate (ASCAN) training at NASA, which includes scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction on ISS systems, Extravehicular Activities (EVAs), robotics, physiological training, flight training using the T-38 jet trainer, and water and wilderness survival training.

July, 2011

Completed Astronaut Candidate training at NASA.
Certified as an ISS astronaut.

June, 2012

Participated in the 16th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO 16).

September, 2012

Joined the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), NASA’s wilderness leadership training, in Alaska.

October, 2012

Assigned as a flight engineer for ISS Expeditions 44 and 45.

July-December, 2015

Spent approximately 142 days aboard the ISS as a flight engineer with Expeditions 44 and 45. Became the first Japanese astronaut to capture the H-II Transfer Vehicle "KOUNOTORI". In addition to constructing a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, conducted a total of 21 experiments for JAXA.

©JAXA/NASA
November, 2016-March, 2023

Assigned as Chief of the JAXA Astronaut Group.

June, 2023

Assigned for another long-duration mission aboard the ISS, scheduled for 2024. (In November 2023, the long-duration mission aboard the ISS was rescheduled for 2025.)

Unless specified otherwise, rights to all images belong to ©JAXA