The National Space Development Agency of Japan on Monday announced that astronaut Chiaki Mukai will serve as mission scientist during a 2001 NASA mission involving the space shuttle Columbia.
Mukai, 48, a payload specialist and Japan's first female astronaut, will remain on Earth and control the experiment schedule of the shuttle's seven crew members as deputy mission scientist during the 16-day U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's mission in June 2001, called STS-107, a NASDA spokesman said.
The crew members will conduct experiments on life and microgravity sciences.
Mission scientist is the name given to a particular role in a mission and differs from astronaut titles such as payload specialist and mission specialist.
Mukai flew aboard the Columbia in 1994 as a payload specialist and also aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1998.