In April 1981,/immediately after entering senior high school,/an event that changed my life happened.
It was the launch of the space shuttle Columbia.
For the first time,/I became conscious of actually making the career choice/to become an astronaut.
One day,/my parents bought me a book/on American astronauts/who had experienced going into space.
Their lives were not always happy.
I wonder/why reading such a book in high school/further encouraged me/to aim at becoming an astronaut.
I may have thought/that the life of an astronaut would be/as thrilling as in the book.
The average person probably has an exciting image of astronauts even now.
In fact,/it is a down-to-earth job.
Astronauts are expected/to complete each task without fail,/quietly checking conditions all the time.
We never do anything/without first planning very carefully.
In high school,/I wrote “astronaut”/in the blank for my future career. I still remember. At the University of Tokyo,/I entered the Department of Aerospace Engineering/and researched aircraft engines. After finishing graduate school,/I joined a company/that was making jet engines. I married/three years after that. My dream of space was interrupted then.
One day,/my wife told me/about an astronaunt position advertised by NASDA,/currently JAXA,/in an in-house newsletter. I was happy at work,/and was busy every day. At that time,/I was thinking of studying abroad,/so I hesitated. But the recruitment of astronauts is not posted often,/only when needed. If I missed this opportunity,/nobody knew/when the next one would come. So,/I decided/to challenge myself. I passed the first, second, and third tests,/and on the morning of May 29, 1996,/I received a call. It was from Mohri Mamoru,/an astronaut. He congratulated me. After that,/I trained for nearly ten years/to become an astronaut.
The scenery of space is completely different/when you are working outside the spacecraft/doing extravehicular activities,/compared with that through the shuttle window. Looking with your own eyes/through the window,/space is a beautiful picture. Outside the shuttle,/the earth continuously changes/with the reflected light. The earth looks so real/— as if you could touch it! I thought/that the earth itself was alive then.
In high school,/I wrote “astronaut”/in the blank for my future career. I still remember. At the University of Tokyo,/I entered the Department of Aerospace Engineering/and researched aircraft engines. After finishing graduate school,/I joined a company/that was making jet engines. I married/three years after that. My dream of space was interrupted then.
One day,/my wife told me/about an astronaunt position advertised by NASDA,/currently JAXA,/in an in-house newsletter. I was happy at work,/and was busy every day. At that time,/I was thinking of studying abroad,/so I hesitated. But the recruitment of astronauts is not posted often,/only when needed. If I missed this opportunity,/nobody knew/when the next one would come. So,/I decided/to challenge myself. I passed the first, second, and third tests,/and on the morning of May 29, 1996,/I received a call. It was from Mohri Mamoru,/an astronaut. He congratulated me. After that,/I trained for nearly ten years/to become an astronaut.
The scenery of space is completely different/when you are working outside the spacecraft/doing extravehicular activities,/compared with that through the shuttle window. Looking with your own eyes/through the window,/space is a beautiful picture. Outside the shuttle,/the earth continuously changes/with the reflected light. The earth looks so real/— as if you could touch it! I thought/that the earth itself was alive then.