The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Friday that astronaut Takuya Onishi will travel into space for the first time around July 2016 in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Onishi, 37, who will stay at the International Space Station for about six months, issued a comment saying: "I'm glad from the bottom of my heart. I hope I can convey the various charms of space so children will feel it is familiar to them."
He will be the 11th Japanese to travel into space. The 10th is Kimiya Yui, 43, who is scheduled to stay at the ISS in 2015.
After studying aerospace engineering at the University of Tokyo, Onishi served as a co-pilot at All Nippon Airways Co. and was chosen as an astronaut candidate in 2009.