Dr. Soichi Noguchi

Astronaut and Two-Time Guinness World Record Holder

Miraispace Co. Ltd.

Dr. Soichi Noguchi is a Japanese astronaut and the first person in history to fly on three different types of spacecraft. His first mission was aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2005, on the “”Return to Flight”” mission following the Columbia disaster, during which he became the first Japanese astronaut to conduct three spacewalks as lead spacewalker. In 2009, he became the first Japanese flight engineer to fly aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and in 2020 he became the first non-American astronaut aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, joining NASA’s Crew-1 mission, the world’s first commercial operational flight to the International Space Station. Across his three missions, he accumulated 344 days in space and completed four spacewalks.

His achievements have earned formal recognition beyond the missions themselves. Noguchi is the only astronaut to have completed three different methods of Earth entry, by runway, by ground, and by ocean, an achievement certified by Guinness World Records in two separate categories. He also holds a YouTube Creator Award for a live performance of Chopin from space, received a Distinguished Award from the Japanese Association of Qualitative Psychology for his studies of the cosmic experience, and was inducted into the Genius 100 Visionaries by the Genius 100 Foundation. Since leaving NASA in 2022, Noguchi has served as founder and President of Mirai Space Co., Ltd. He holds a range of advisory and academic appointments, including Chief Technology Officer of the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies (IISE), Executive Adviser to IHI, a seat on the Sustainability Advisory Committee of Mitsubishi Corporation, Project Professor at the University of Tokyo, Distinguished Fellow for Space Technology at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Co-Chair of the Astronaut Admin Committee at the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), Pro Vice President of Ritsumeikan University, and Research Advisor at the Earth & Space Exploration Center (ESEC).

Programmes

IDECS 2026 Opening Keynote: Earth, Orbit and Beyond: The Potential of the Space Business

The Future

Dr. Soichi Noguchi’s career traces the very arc this keynote is named for. The only person to have flown Space Shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon, he has moved through three distinct eras of space access, government-run, international partnership, and commercial enterprise, and now sits on the advisory board of Voyager Space while leading his own venture, Mirai Space.

Day 1

Scaling Innovation Ecosystems for a Borderless Economy. Earth Orbit and Beyond

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