Born in Tokyo in 1968, Akihiko Hoshide joined NASDA (currently JAXA) in 1992 and was selected as a Japanese astronaut candidate in 1999. He has three space flights to the International Space Station (ISS) – STS-124/1J on board Space Shuttle Discovery to assemble Japan’s Kibo Pressurized Module to the ISS (2008); ISS Expedition 32/33 on board the Russian 31S Soyuz (2012); and ISS Expedition 65/66 on board the Crew-2 Crew Dragon (2021). He also served as the ISS Commander for 5 months on Expedition 65. He has logged a total of 340 days, 11 hours and 13 minutes in space, with four space walks with a total of 28 hours and 17 minutes in duration.