Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, who returned to Earth in December after spending five months on the International Space Station, or ISS, wants to embark on a new mission to an asteroid or to Mars.
In an interview broadcast Thursday by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Yui said he wants to travel to an asteroid or Mars from where he could view the Earth as a point of light just like stars.
Yui returned to Japan last month after participating in a rehabilitation program in Russia and the United States.
His fellow astronaut, Scott Kelly, was received Thursday in the U.S., following his return from the ISS after almost a year-long-mission.
Yui, whose stay coincided with Kelly’s at the orbiting platform, carried out maintenance and repair tasks, among other things, and was in charge of the Kibo laboratory unit aboard the ISS.
On Dec. 11, 2015 he returned to Earth along with Russia’s Oleg Kononenko and American Kjell Lindgren.
However, despite his longing to don the astronaut’s suit once more and leave the Earth, Yui admitted such an international mission would be a complex one.
He also hoped Japan will play an important role in the development of a new generation of space crafts in the future, so that a Japanese astronaut may be selected to undertake such a journey.
