Previous Story
Astronaut Mukai lands on Saipan on Sunday
|
Posted on Jun 11 1999
Astronaut Chiaki Mukai will be arriving for a three-day visit to Saipan this Sunday, June 13, 1999, to be the keynote speaker in the American Pacific Nursing Convention.
She will also be the commencement speaker at Hopwood Junior High School Graduation and Marianas High School Graduation.
Mukai has three wishes during her trip: meet the students, taste the local food and visit a local store. She will be accompanied by NASDA director Hideshi Kozawa.
The astronaut’s schedule during her stay here was made as simple as possible for a celebrity like her. CNMI Resident Representative to Washington Juan N. Babauta said Mukai immediately sought the scrapping of the golf game which was included in the original itinerary.
According to Babauta, NASDA has imposed strict rules to make sure that astronauts are not treated as celebrities although they really are on their own right. After all, not everybody gets to go on a trip to the moon.
But how can the Marianas Visitors Authority make use of Mukai’s visit in promoting the CNMI to Japan? Although NASDA has strict regulations in terms of treating all astronauts as celebrities, Babauta said Mukai can still be photographed and there is no rule that prohibits the use of her photos during her stay.
Except for an hour of sightseeing, Mukai’s social calendar will only include a meeting with the legislators and a dinner sponsored by the Japanese Society of Northern Mariana Islands.
Originally, Mukai was supposed to stay on the island for four days, but was later on shortened to three because she has to go back to Houston to attend to her work.
