The first professional "space" journalist has passed away

The first Japanese astronaut, Toyohiro Akiyama, who in 1990 joined the crew of the orbital station "Mir" as a journalist for the TBS television channel, has died at the age of 84.

As reported by TASS, this was announced by his former journalism colleague and current member of the upper house of the Japanese parliament, Hideya Sugio.

T. Akiyama worked for many years at the TBS television company, which initiated the first Soviet-Japanese orbital flight. He successfully passed the selection process and from October 1989 trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. During his stay on the "Mir" station, T. Akiyama conducted live television reports, lessons with schoolchildren, and carried out biological experiments. After his spaceflight, where he was the first professional journalist in space, T. Akiyama held important positions at the television company and later taught at one of the universities in the city of Kyoto.

He noted that the unique orbital crew training system developed by Soviet and Russian specialists would be indispensable in organizing flights to Mars and the exploration of the Moon.

The first Japanese astronaut admitted that at the words "Star City," the "familiar faces of colleagues" with whom he trained together "immediately appeared before his eyes."

"Both our instructors and the support staff — they were all responsible people, excellent experts in their field. I will never forget the wonderful homely atmosphere that was created in Star City," he said in 2015.

The Japanese astronaut recalled with particular warmth Gennady Manakov and Gennady Strekalov, with whom he spent more than seven days on the orbital station "Mir" in December 1990.