Toyohiro Akiyama
Toyohiro Akiyama is a Japanese journalist, broadcaster, professor, and cosmonaut who became the first person of Japanese nationality to fly in space. His 1990 Soyuz/Mir flight was also one of the earliest commercially sponsored human spaceflights.
- Born
- July 22, 1942
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Tokyo,Japan
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
7 days, 21 hours, 54 minutes
Bio
Akiyama studied at International Christian University and joined Tokyo Broadcasting System in 1966. TBS selected him for a Soviet flight as part of a high-profile media project, and he trained at Star City for the Soyuz TM-11 mission.
He launched on Soyuz TM-11 in December 1990 with Viktor Afanasyev and Musa Manarov, lived aboard Mir for a week, and returned on Soyuz TM-10 with Gennady Manakov and Gennady Strekalov. He delivered live reports from orbit for Japanese audiences.
Akiyama later left TBS, worked in farming and environmental writing, and taught at Kyoto University of Art and Design. His spaceflight was one short Mir visiting mission that used different Soyuz vehicles for launch and landing.