Toyohiro Akiyama, first Japanese citizen and journalist in space, dies at 84

Toyohiro Akiyama, the first Japanese citizen to travel to space and the world’s first journalist to report from orbit, died at 84 on August 26 from lower gastrointestinal bleeding. He flew aboard Soyuz TM-11 after training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, having been selected from 162 TBS employees for the network’s 40th-anniversary mission. A funeral was held with close relatives in attendance.