Second Place in the First Tanegashima Rocket Contest
Ms. Akie Naito

Ms. Akie Naito Born in Tokyo, 1981. Graduated from Meisei Private High School and Meisei University. Currently in the second year of the master's program of the Graduate School of Information, Production and Systems. Studies under the supervision of Professor Osamu Yoshie. Member of the Kitakyushu Branch of the Japan Young Astronauts Club, and has been involved in Space and Science Classes. Will take up a position with NEC Engineering, Ltd. next year. Hobbies: photography and driving. Favorite film: “Top Gun”.

The Homemade Gunpowder Rocket Contest brought together people competing for altitude and the shortness of the distance between the launch and landing points of the rockets. Most of the participating teams consisted of engineering students from all over Japan who had devoted a lot of time and effort to the construction of mini-rockets just a few dozen centimetres in length. One of the participants was Akie Naito. Akie was not an engineering major, and she put together her rocket in just three days, during odd moments when she wasn't job hunting. Yet she came in second place.

From early childhood she was more absorbed in playing with machines than playing house. “That's because many of my friends were unique,” she says with a laugh. She never felt the need to be an ‘ordinary person’, and this attitude has made her what she is. She liked to take the lawn mower to pieces, to process picture images, and to visit her father working at city development sites. She became fascinated by space when she saw Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mori on TV. While studying virtual reality in machine manufacturing processes at graduate school, she also visited space research institutions in and outside Japan, exploring opportunities for work as a space engineer.

Her prize-winning mini-rocket brought together the merits of both a missile and a H2A rocket. “The missile-like pointed nose and the wings just behind it cut through the air and enable it to go higher, and the rear wings keep it stable.” She got her ideas from Air Self-Defence Force and American Air Force videos that she used to watch under her father's influence. “This prize was not directly related to my studies, so when my teachers and friends found out about it, I was a bit embarrassed,” she says with smile. She is always smiling. It's clear that she loves what she is doing.

She teaches Space and Science classes to children as a volunteer. Teaching children about science, the promise of space, and the mechanism of the earth, she hopes that one day they'll grow up into astronauts. After graduation, she will join a company with an aerospace department. “My dream is to contribute to the first manned Japanese space flight.” We're sure that deep blue space is waiting for this forceful and dedicated woman.