Toyohiro Akiyama, first Japanese citizen and journalist in space, dies at 84
Toyohiro Akiyama, the first Japanese national in space and the first commercially sponsored cosmonaut, has died at age 84. He passed away last Wednesday from lower gastrointestinal bleeding, according to Japanese news agencies.
Toyohiro Akiyama, the first Japanese citizen to travel to space and the first commercially sponsored cosmonaut, has died at the age of 84. Akiyama died last Wednesday, August 26, due to lower gastrointestinal bleeding, Japanese news agencies reported. A funeral was held with his close relatives in attendance.
Akiyama, who was a correspondent for the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), was selected for the spaceflight out of 162 fellow employees who applied. The mission was undertaken to celebrate the network's 40th anniversary. He underwent training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside Moscow, and was assigned to the Soyuz TM-11 crew.
As the world's first journalist to file reports from space, Akiyama spent seven days aboard the Mir space station during his 1990 mission. His journey was part of a collaboration between TBS and the Soviet (now Russian) space program.
The circumstances of his selection and mission highlighted a growing trend of commercial involvement in space exploration during that era.