Portal:Space exploration/Biography/Week 1 2008
Takao Doi (土井隆雄 Doi Takao, born September 18, 1954) is a Japanese astronaut and a veteran of one NASA Space Shuttle mission.
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 was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1985 and flew as a mission specialist aboard STS-87 in 1997, during which he became the first Japanese astronaut to conduct a spacewalk.
Takao Doi is currently assigned to the STS-123 crew that will deliver the first module of the Japanese laboratory, Kibō, to the International Space Station.