is a Japanese physician and

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

astronaut. She was the first Japanese woman in space, the first Japanese citizen to have two

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...

s, and the first Asian woman in space. Both were

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

missions; her first was STS-65 aboard Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' in July 1994, which was a

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...

mission. Her second spaceflight was

STS-95 STS-95 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998, using the orbiter Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery''. It was the 25th flight of ''Discovery'' and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the ...

aboard Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' in 1998. In total she has spent 23 days in space. Mukai was selected to be an astronaut by Japanese national space agency

NASDA The , or NASDA, was a Japanese national space agency established on October 1, 1969 under the National Space Development Agency Law only for peaceful purposes. Based on the Space Development Program enacted by the Minister of Education, Culture ...

(now called JAXA) in 1985. Prior to this, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

, the oldest university in Japan. In 2015, she became Vice President of the

Tokyo University of Science , formerly "Science University of Tokyo" or TUS, informally or simply is a private research university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. History Tokyo University of Science was founded in 1881 as The Tokyo Academy of Physics by 21 graduate ...

. In addition, she became JAXA Technical Counselor.

Early life and education

Chiaki Mukai was born in Tatebayashi,

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

. She graduated from Keio Girls Senior High School in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 1971. She received her doctorate in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

School of Medicine, 1977; a doctorate in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

, Keio University School of Medicine, 1988; board certified as a

cardiovascular In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart a ...

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, Japan Surgical Society, 1989. Mukai is a member of the American Aerospace Medical Association; the Japan Society of Microgravity Applications; the Japan Society of Aerospace and Environmental Medicine; the Japanese Society for Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery; and the Japan Surgical Society.

Medical career

Mukai has held positions at several hospitals and institutions. *Board-certified for medicine in 1977 *Resident in General Surgery, Keio University Hospital, Tokyo (1977–1978) *Medical Staff in General Surgery, Shimizu General Hospital,

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

(1978) *Medical Staff in Emergency Surgery, Saiseikai Kanagawa Hospital,

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

(1979) *Resident in Cardiovascular Surgery, Keio University Hospital (1980) *Medical Staff in Cardiovascular Surgery, Saiseikai

Utsunomiya is the capital and largest city of Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 513,584, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Utsunomiya is famous for its ''gyoza'' ...

Hospital,

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

(1982) *Chief Resident in Cardiovascular Surgery,

Hospital (1983) *Assistant

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Keio University Mukai has been credited with approximately sixty peer-reviewed scientific publications since 1979.

Astronaut career

In 1985, Mukai was selected as one of three Japanese

Payload Specialist A payload specialist (PS) was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission. People assigned as payload specialists included individuals selected by t ...

candidates for the First Material Processing Test (Spacelab-J) which flew aboard

STS-47 STS-47 was NASA's 50th Space Shuttle mission of the Space Shuttle program, program, as well as the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and mater ...

. She also served as a back-up payload specialist for the Neurolab (

STS-90 STS-90 was a 1998 Space Shuttle mission flown by the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The 16-day mission marked the last flight of the European Space Agency's Spacelab laboratory module, which had first flown on ''Columbia'' on STS-9, and was also th ...

) mission. Mukai has logged over 566 hours in space. She flew aboard STS-65 in 1994 and

in 1998. She is the first Japanese woman to fly in space, and the first Japanese citizen to fly twice. As a NASDA astronaut, she was a visiting scientist at the Division of Cardiovascular Physiology, Space Biomedical Research Institute,

NASA Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in ...

, from 1987 to 1988. Mukai has remained a Research Instructor of the Department of Surgery,

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, since 1992. From 1992 to 1998 she was a visiting associate professor of the Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, and in 1999 was promoted to a visiting professor of the university. On October 1, 2003, NASDA merged with ISAS (

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science , or ISAS, is a Japanese national research organization of astrophysics using rockets, astronomical satellites and interplanetary probes which played a major role in Japan's space development. Established as part of the University of Tokyo ...

) and NAL (

National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan The National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), was established in July 1955. Originally known as the National Aeronautical Laboratory, it assumed its present name with the addition of the Aerospace Division in 1963. Since its establishment, it ...

) and was renamed

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national Aeronautics, air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satell ...

(JAXA). Mukai was assigned the deputy mission scientist for

STS-107 STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th(twenty eigth) and final flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The mission ended on the 1st of February 2003, with the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster which killed al ...

. In that capacity she coordinated science operations for this science mission.Spacefacts biography of Chiaki Mukai
/ref> In 2009 Mukai was a visiting lecturer at the

International Space University The International Space University (ISU) is a higher education institute headquartered in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, a suburb of Strasbourg, France. It is dedicated to the discovery, research, and development of outer space and its applications f ...

STS-65

STS-65 Columbia (July 8–23, 1994) was the second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) flight. The mission consisted of 82 investigations of Space Life Science (Human Physiology, Space Biology, Radiation Biology, and Bioprocessing) and Microgravity Science (Material Science, Fluid Science and Research on the Microgravity Environment and Countermeasures). IML-2 was also designated as an extended duration orbit mission focusing on medical experiments related to the cardiovascular system, autonomic nerve system, and

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

and

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

. The mission was accomplished in 236 orbits of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, traveling over 6.1 million miles in 353 hours and 55 minutes.

STS-95

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'' (October 29 to November 7, 1998) was a nine-day mission during which the crew supported a variety of research payloads including deployment of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

Orbital Systems Test Platform, and investigations on space flight and the

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

process. The mission was accomplished in 134 Earth orbits, traveling 3.6 million miles in 213 hours and 44 minutes.

After her return from space

UNOOSA 50 Years of Women in Space NHM Vienna 2013 09 Chiaki Mukai Dumitru Dorin Prunariu

Mukai was a visiting professor at the

(ISU) from September 2004 to September 2007. Between 2007 and 2012, she worked for

, serving as director of the Space Biomedical Research Office, Human Space Technology and Astronaut Department, Human Space System and Utilization Mission Directorate. From April 2011 until 2015, Mukai was a senior Advisor to the JAXA Executive Director. In addition, she became the director of the JAXA Center for Applied Space Medicine and Human Research (J-CASMHR) in July 2012. In March 2015, Mukai became vice president of the

, and is a technical counselor for JAXA. Since June 2015, she has been Director of Fujitsu Limited and is a corporate executive fellow of

Kao Corporation is a Japanese global chemical and cosmetics company headquartered in Nihonbashi-Kayabacho, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. History Kao was established in 1882 by Tomiro Nagase as a manufacturer of domestic toiletry soap. Until 1954, they were known a ...

since January 2016.

Awards and honors

Mukai has received the following awards: *

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

: Chevalier – French government (2015) *Dream's Award – The Soroptimist Japan Foundation (2013) *Joe Kerwin Award –

Aerospace Medical Association The Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is the largest professional organization in the fields of aviation, space, and environmental medicine. The AsMA membership includes aerospace and hyperbaric medical specialists, scientists, flight nurses ...

(2013) *Outstanding Service Award – The Society of Japanese Women Scientists (1996) *Special Congressional Recognition – U.S. Congress (1995) *Happy Hands Award – Satte Junior Chamber of Commerce (1995) *Aeromedical Association of Korea Honorary Membership (1995) *Tatebayashi Children's Science Exploratorium Honorary President (1995) *Prime Minister's Special Citation for Contributions to Gender Equality (1995) *The De La Vaux Medal – The Federation Aeronautique Internationale (1995) *The Award for Distinguished Service in Advancement of Space Biology – Japanese Society for Biological Sciences in Space (1995) *Prime Minister's Special Citation (1994) *Minister of State for Science and Technology's Commendation (1994 & 1992) *People of Gunma Prefecture's Certificate of Appreciation (1994) *Honorary Citizen of Tatebayashi City (1994) *Outstanding Service Award – National Space Development Agency of Japan (1994 & 1992) *Award for Distinguished Accomplishments – Tokyo Women's Foundation (1994) *Commendation for Technology – Japan Society of Aeronautical and Space Science (1993). * Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation (1999).

Personal life

She is married to Makio Mukai, M.D., Ph.D. Her recreational interests include snow skiing, Alpine competitive skiing,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

fishing, scuba diving, tennis, golf, photography,

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

, and traveling.

In popular culture

In 2007,

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

released a special episode of its program ''A Woman's Biography''. The episode is based on the biography of Mukai Chiaki and stars

Miho Kanno is a Japanese actress and J-Pop singer. Her nickname is ''Kanchan'' (菅ちゃん). She was born in Sakado, Saitama, Japan. Career In 1992, Kanno made her debut as a member of a group called '' Sakurakko Club'' after passing the orientation ...

References

External links

JAXA biography

interview from March 20, 2018,

Tohoku University is a public research university in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. It is colloquially referred to as or . Established in 1907 as the third of the Imperial Universities, after the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, it initially focused on sc ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukai, Chiaki 1952 births Women astronauts Japanese astronauts Physician astronauts Living people Keio University alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour Space medicine doctors Space Shuttle program astronauts People from Gunma Prefecture