Japanese astronaut Takao Doi will be on board in NASA's first space mission to deliver components for Japan's laboratory in the International Space Station.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told visiting Japanese science minister Kenji Kosaka on Friday that astronaut Takao Doi, aged 51, will take part in the construction of Japan's manned laboratory in space.
This will be Mr Doi's second space mission. In 1997, he became the first Japanese astronaut to engage in extra-vehicular activity.

Japanese woman astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, aged 35, was named as a member of the ground team for the mission.

Components for Japan's space laboratory, which is called "Kibo," meaning "hope" in Japanese, will be delivered in three space shuttle missions from 2007 to 2008.

Mr Doi had a televised news conference in Houston with reporters in Tokyo.

Takao Doi / Japanese Astronaut
"It's almost a decade since I first went into space. I promise to use 'Kibo' to make outer space familiar to the Japanese."

related link:
JAXA Astronaut Selected for Space Shuttle Mission
for Transporting and Assembling the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo"