Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, who has been on a long-term stay on the International Space Station since August last year, held a press conference from space on the night of the 20th, ahead of his imminent return to Earth, saying, ``We are working steadily in the final spurt.'' ``I would like to carry on the baton of Japanese astronauts,'' he said, expressing his aspirations.
Last August, Mr. Furukawa headed to the ISS on the American private spacecraft "Crew Dragon" and has been staying there for about half a year for the second time. I attended a press conference for.
In this, Mr. Furukawa talked about his current state of mind, saying, ``I regret my life in space, and if I was allowed to, I would like to stay longer, but I would like to do the remaining work properly and hand it over to the next crew before returning home.'' .
Furthermore, ``We were able to complete experiments on a water regeneration system that we have been conducting for a long time, which we inherited from astronauts Hoshide and Wakata, and the generation of high-quality protein crystals that will help promote the development of new drugs.'' We looked back on the results.
Finally, he said, ``The space business will continue to advance, as symbolized by the fact that I was launched on a private American spacecraft. ``I want to convey my experience in space and pass the baton to Japanese astronauts,'' he said of his future aspirations.
Furukawa and his team are scheduled to return to Earth in March after a stay of about six months.