Astronaut Furukawa Satoshi hopes to pass the baton after his stay at the International Space Station

Tokyo, June 17 (Jiji Press)—Japanese astronaut Furukawa Satoshi, who recently spent half a year on the International Space Station, announced Monday that he hopes to “pass the baton” of his work to new astronauts.

“I firmly believe that the latest mission leads to exploration in the near future,” Furukawa said at a press conference in Tokyo, referring to the experiments he carried out aboard the ISS on technology that will be used in an international project. lunar exploration.

“I hope to pass the baton that I inherited to the next person so that the work can continue,” he said.

Furukawa, who is 60 years old, traveled to the ISS aboard the American Crew Dragon spacecraft last August. After a stay of almost half a year on the ISS, she returned to Earth in March and underwent rehabilitation in the United States before returning to Japan earlier this month.

The Japanese astronaut carried out numerous experiments on the ISS, mainly in the Japanese Kibo module, such as tests with a device to recycle water that will be used during lunar exploration and a drone designed to help astronauts in tasks on board the ISS. Spacial station.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]