Koichi Wakata

Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and an astronaut working for Axiom Space. He retired from JAXA in 2024. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions, a Russian Soyuz mission, and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two-decade career in spaceflight, he has logged more than five hundred days in space. During Expedition 39, he became the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. Wakata flew on the Soyuz TMA-11M/Expedition 38/Expedition 39 long duration spaceflight from 7 November 2013 to 13 May 2014. During this spaceflight he was accompanied by Kirobo, the first humanoid robot astronaut. As of 2023, he is the longest active astronaut in the world.

1 August 1963

Born on the same birth date (1 August 1963): Coolio • Dean Wareham • Demián Bichir • John Carroll Lynch

Born on the same birth day (1 August): Anthony G. Bosco • Brandt Jobe • Darnerien McCants • Eugenie van Leeuwen • Grant Wooden • Montserrat Lombard • Pat McDonald (actress) • Rob Buck • Scottie Barnes • Tendai Mtawarira • Tim Bachman

Born in the same month (August 1963): Andrew Sullivan • Dave Brockie • Henrik Fisker • Hur Jin-ho • Lisa Ann Walter • Paul Dunn (rugby league) • Stephen J. Dubner • Steve Lee (singer) • Whitney Houston