PhD (academic). In 2005, participated in the International Space Station (ISS) assembly mission by the Space Shuttle "Discovery" and conducted three extravehicular activities as a leader. In 2009, he became the first Japanese to board a Soyuz spacecraft as an assistant captain. He stayed on the ISS for about five and a half months as a flight engineer for the ISS 22nd/23rd long-duration missions, where he carried out experiments such as installing the sub-arm of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo" robot arm and conducting experiments. His 4th extravehicular activity (EVA) and various missions at the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo". He was assigned as the Chief of JAXA Astronaut Group from August 2012 to April 2016. In 2020, he became the first non-American to board SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft (Crew-1). He was the first astronaut in the world to accomplish three different methods of Earth entry (runway, ground, and ocean), and officially certified by Guinness World Records. Received YouTube Creator Award with live performance of Chopin from Space.