The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has chosen a surgeon and a World Bank staffer from over 4,000 applicants to become its new astronaut candidates amid plans to join NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration mission.
The two candidates are Makoto Suwa, 46, a disaster prevention specialist at the World Bank, and Ayu Yoneda, 28, a surgeon at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, JAXA said on Tuesday.
Suwa and Yoneda became JAXA’s first new astronaut candidates since 2009, when the agency recruited two candidates for International Space Station (ISS) missions. They will be joining JAXA next month.
Both candidates will undergo two years of training before being evaluated for certification as JAXA astronauts. They can then participate in the ISS missions and NASA’s lunar exploration program, the agency said….