Dr. Mamoru Mohri

Dr. Mamoru Mohri was born in 1948 in Yoichi, Hokkaido. His field of study included vacuum science, surface science, material science, and nuclear fusion.

Selected by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (now referred to as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA) in 1985, he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor on the STS-47 (Spacelab-J) mission in 1992. He was the first Japanese astronaut who performed Japan-US joint investigation in space. Dr. Mohri also conducted a “Space Classroom”, which was broadcasted live to the children in Japan. Dr. Mohri was qualified as NASA Mission Specialist (MS) in 1998 and flew for a second time aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor on the STS-99 mission in 2000.

During the mission, he mapped more than 47 million miles of the Earth’s surface to develop a 3-D rendition of our planet. Also on the STS-99 mission, for the first time ever, he acquired earth observation data with a High-Definition Television (HDTV) Camera.