Takuya Onishi

Who is Takuya Onishi?

Takuya Onishi is a Japanese astronaut from JAXA, who was selected in 2009.

Onishi was born in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from Seiko High School in Yokohama in 1994 and received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical and Space Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1998. He joined All Nippon Airways in 1998 and was assigned to the Passenger Service Department, Haneda airport, Tokyo, where he was a check-in agent and assisted disabled people in boarding. He completed two years of basic flight training in Bakersfield, California and one year of advanced flight training in Tokyo. He was promoted to co-pilot of Boeing 767 airplanes in October 2003 and flew both domestic and international routes. In February 2009, Onishi was selected by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency as one of the Japanese astronaut candidates for the International Space Station. Starting in April 2009, he attended the ISS Astronaut Basic Training domestic program at Tsukuba Space Center in Japan.

Onishi arrived at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in August 2009. As one of the 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class, he is currently participating in Astronaut Candidate Training which includes scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in ISS systems, Extravehicular Activity, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training.