Astronaut Noguchi joins a Zoom conference with five children during his stay on the ISS! What did Astronaut Noguchi say in response to the question from the childrens, “What should I do to achieve my dreams and goals?”

Hello! This is Macky Makita, who has been with SUNNY SIDE UP for almost two years now.

This time, I would like to introduce the “6 months mission challenge campaign: Astronaut Soichi Noguchi’s real-time communication event” from the publicity activities for JAXA Astronaut Soichi Noguchi (hereinafter referred to as “Astronaut Noguchi”).

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi challenges space for the third time in his life!

At 9:27 a.m. on November 16, 2020 (Japan Standard Time), the ‘Crew Dragon’, on which Noguchi and three American astronauts boarded was successfully launched, marking the start of Noguchi’s third attempt at space in his life. Noguchi will stay on the “International Space Station” (ISS) for about six months. During his stay on the ISS, he is scheduled to try three major missions and also conduct extravehicular activities (EVA) outside the ISS.

Real-time communication between space and Earth over a distance of about 400 km!

A participatory Twitter campaign, “6 months mission challenge campaign,” launched on September 12, 2020 to support Astronaut Noguchi on his various missions on the ISS from Earth. A total of 5 children with the desire such as “challenging the Astronomy and Space Proficiency Test Level 2” or “passing the junior high school entrance exam to become an astronaut” were selected. Out of the five participants, two elementary school students were from Aichi and Tokyo, and three high school students were from Fukuoka, Miyazaki and Yamanashi.

ⒸJAXA/NASA

For more information about the Twitter campaign, please visit the special website
https://noguchi-mission.jaxa.jp/

Special project with the popular manga “Space Brothers,” which all space lovers have read at least once.

In addition to contents to deepen your knowledge of JAXA’s activities and space, the event also features a limited collaboration project with the popular manga “Space Brothers,” which of course Astronaut Noguchi is very familiar with! A limited quiz was prepared just for this event, and the third episode of the 6 months mission challenge campaign, “Nobuchi Version,” which is a collaborative project with “Space Brothers”, was shown for the first time prior to the public viewing of the video.

The “Nobuchi Version” URL: https://youtu.be/zimAxHM0NYM

ⒸJAXA ⒸKoyama Chuya / Kodansha

Astronaut Noguchi: “As a human being in space, I am also still a baby.”

In the real-time communication with Astronaut Noguchi, participants asked him various questions. A third-grade baseball-loving boy asked, “What should I do to achieve my dreams and goals?” Astronaut Noguchi advised him, “In order to achieve a big dream, it is important to spend a long time and go straight for it.” A high school senior, the only female participant who aspires to be an astronaut in the future, asked, “What did you notice when you actually went to space and saw it from a new perspective?” He replied, “I think it is important to know how to solve problems from a different perspective when you encounter them. I believe that we can promote such cognitive changes. I have only been in space for a mere 250 days, so I am still a baby in space, but I hope to be able to share with you as I contemplate on what it means to gradually move away from earth.”

ⒸJAXA/NASA

All the participants listened to the straight and precious answer from Astronaut Noguchi, who is challenging space for the third time in his life. I myself was moved by the words of Astronaut Noguchi, “As a human being in space, I am also still a baby,” despite having accomplished the feat of challenging space for the third time in his life. At the end of the real-time communication, he encouraged all those who were not able to participate in this event, saying, “If you take it one day at a time, do the best you can each day, and achieve your goals one by one, I am sure you will eventually reach a higher place.”

Whenever I look up at the sky, I am struck by the vast number of stars. The moon gives us a ray of light no matter how late at night it gets. From the ground, there are people who put their lives on the line to continue their activities in what appears to be another world far, far away. I would like to continue to help JAXA in its public relations activities, and I hope to convey these invisible aspects to you all! And I will continue to work to make space more familiar to you!

I hope that everyone reading this blog will take their eyes off their phones once in a while and look up at the sky. There are infinite possibilities in space.

Astronaut Noguchi’s official Social Media
・Twitter: @Astro_Soichi
・Instagram: astro.soichi
・YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/astrosoichi