Chiaki Mukai

The first female astronaut from Japan.
She was born on May 6, 1952 in Tatebayashi in the Gunma Prefecture, Japan. On June 20, 1985, she was selected as one of three astronaut candidates in the first intake of the Japanese Space Agency, NASDA.
From July 8 - 23, 1994, she made her first spaceflight as a payload specialist as a member of the crew of the Columbia STS-65 space shuttle mission for the SpaceLab laboratory within the IML-2 program (International Microgravity Laboratory).