Mum in space!
Japanese astronaut orbits the earth, while her husband stays home with their daughter
Clad in her Astronaut space suit, Naoko Yamazaki waves off her husband Taichi and her 7-year-old daughter Yuki as she sets off on her mission of orbiting the earth, leaving her partner to run the family home and do the domestic chores.
Dubbed the ‘Mum Astronaut’, the mum-of-one has became the second Japanese woman in space after her husband gave up his job to be their daughter’s primary carer, so that Naoko could pursue her life long dream of flying to space by undertaking astronaut training in the US and Russia.
While the space stepping mum is in the space shuttle, husband Taichi continues his role washing rice, doing the laundry and the school run – something that is virtually unheard of for men in Japanese culture.