Q. What kind of child were you? Were you interested in space?
Noriko Shiraishi enjoying hang gliding
In my case, it was not space but the sky I was interested in. When I was a child, I wanted to be able to fly freely, looking up at the sky. Then I got interested in making airplanes. I thought about how I could do this, and when I was in junior high school, I decided I wanted to go to university and study aircraft. But I didn’t have a particular goal for the future. I’ve just let my desire to fly guide me. I still long for the sky and sometimes fly a hang glider. Q. What do you like about rockets? I like the way they take off, with that explosive rumbling sound. When you see a launch vehicle at very close range, it’s very tall, and has a lot of different technologies all over it. I think that such a piece of technology taking off into space touches many people, and I love it. Q. What got you interested in rockets? I got interested in rockets in university. I was at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, so I studied rockets along with aircraft. At that time, after the failed launches of the H-II rockets, the development of the H-IIA had started and the test flight had just ended in success. It was a significantly challenging time in Japan’s rocket history. I had opportunities to meet rocket developers, and learned that [Japanese] rocket technology was not yet firmly established and that they were working hard on new technology every day. That got me interested.
Initially I went to university to learn to build airplanes. But since the first flight by the Wright brothers in 1903, the world of aviation has made great leaps forward, and today anyone can get on a flight. Rockets, on the other hand, are still developing. I think that rocket technology still has a long way to go. I’m sure that a time will come someday when rockets will be flying freely, like airplanes, with ordinary people onboard. Space travel will be a common thing. In a time of such big changes, I wanted to be part of the rocket world and help establish the technology. I thought it would be wonderful if I could make some contribution to the world of rockets, which leads to the future. These are the reasons I chose rocketry as a career.
Q. Why did you choose JAXA rather than a private rocket manufacturer?
I didn’t get interested in rockets until the latter half of my university studies, so I needed to start job-hunting right away. I started doing research on rocket-related jobs. Rockets are built with a great number of technologies, so I discovered that there were many different organizations involved: parts manufacturers, major heavy-industry manufacturers, NASDA [now JAXA], and even government departments. I visited many people in person and asked each of them what their role was in rocket development. And I decided that I wanted to work at NASDA. The attraction of private companies was to be able to get involved directly in rocket design or production, but I was more attracted to the role of NASDA, whose responsibility was to shape the direction of Japanese space development - what kind of rocket was to be made and for what reason. Fortunately I was offered a job at NASDA, my first choice, and I am very happy that I’ve been able to work with rockets ever since. Q. Finally, could you tell us about your dreams or goals for the future? I would like to make rockets that can someday carry people. I hope that both people and cargo will be able to reach space more easily, and that our activity will expand greatly not only on Earth but also in space. To make this happen, my work experience as a launch conductor and my knowledge of rocket operation won’t be enough. I want more experience in various related fields, and expand my abilities little by little. I will do my best to work on this.
Noriko Shiraishi
Engineer, H-IIB Launch Vehicle Project Team, Space Transportation Mission Directorate, JAXA
Ms. Shiraishi received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University in 2000, and her master’s degree in systems engineering from the same university in 2002. The same year, she joined the National Space Development Agency of Japan [now JAXA] and was assigned to the launch control division at the Tanegashima Space Center. She became a member of the H-IIA project team in 2006, and a member of the H-IIB project team a year later. Since September 2009, she has been launch conductor of three H-IIB Launch Vehicles.
