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Takao Doi
Takao Doi
Born	September 18, 1954 (age 70); Tokyo, Japan
Status	Retired
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Engineer
	Space career
NASDA astronaut
Time in space	31d 19h 35min
Selection	1985 NASDA Group
Total EVAs	2
Total EVA time	12 hours, 43 minutes
Missions	STS-87, STS-123
Mission insignia
	Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy
Thesis	Internal velocities in the Orion Nebula (2004)

Takao Doi (土井隆雄, Doi Takao, born September 18, 1954) is a Japanese astronaut, engineer and veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions.

Early life and education

Doi holds a doctorate from the University of Tokyo in aerospace engineering, and has studied and published in the fields of propulsion systems and microgravity technology. He researched at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and was selected by NASDA as an astronaut candidate in 1985 for the Japanese crewed space program while also conducting research in the United States at NASA's Lewis Research Center and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Doi flew as a mission specialist aboard STS-87 in 1997, during which he became the first Japanese astronaut to conduct a spacewalk.

He received a Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Tokyo, and also a PhD in Astronomy from Rice University in 2004.

Astronaut career

Takao Doi visited the International Space Station in March 2008 as a member of the STS-123 crew. STS-123 delivered the first module of the Japanese laboratory, Kibō, and the Canadian Dextre robot to the space station. During this mission, he became the first person to throw a boomerang in space that had been specifically designed for use in microgravity during spaceflight.^[2]

Post-astronaut career

In September 2009, Doi retired from astronaut duty and started working as the chief of Space Applications Section of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.^[3]

In April 2016, he became a professor at the Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space of Kyoto University^[4] and then at the Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (GSAIS) in April 2020.^[5]

As an avid amateur astronomer, he discovered supernovae SN 2002gw and SN 2007aa.^[6]^[7]

References

^ "Takao Doi (Ph.D.) JAXA Astronaut (Former) Biography on the NASA website". NASA. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
^ "Boomerangs in Space". Retrieved 2011-01-19.
^ "Veteran Japanese astronaut Takao Doi to take up UN job". The Mainichi Daily News. June 6, 2009. Archived from the original on June 8, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2009. (found in archive.org capture)
^ 宇宙飛行士の土井隆雄さん、京大特定教授に. Yomiuri Online (in Japanese). The Yomiuri Shimbun. March 7, 2016. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
^ 京都大学ELP 有人宇宙活動 (in Japanese). Kyoto University. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^ "IAUC 7995". 2002-10-17. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
^ "Supernova 2007aa in NGC 4030". Retrieved 2014-03-27.