Nov 16 (NHK) - Children cheered on the launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft at a Japanese elementary school from which astronaut Noguchi Soichi graduated.
About 140 sixth graders of the school in the city of Chigasaki, near Tokyo, watched the launch of the spacecraft carrying Noguchi on a screen in the school gymnasium on Monday morning.
When the rocket blasted off, they cheered and applauded. The students celebrated the successful launch, noticing that the capsule entered orbit 12 minutes later.
A boy said he was impressed that Noguchi took on the difficult space mission. He added if he could go to space, he would want to experience many things he cannot do on earth.
A girl said she was astonished by the powerful launch of the rocket. She said she has been inspired to study hard after seeing Noguchi's efforts as an astronaut.
