Ayu Yoneda

Ayu Yoneda is a Japanese physician and surgeon who worked at the University of Tokyo Hospital, the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center and Toranomon Hospital before her selection by JAXA on February 28, 2023, as part of its sixth astronaut group, chosen from 4,127 applicants. At 28 years old she became the youngest person ever selected by the agency and the third Japanese woman chosen as an astronaut, after Chiaki Mukai and Naoko Yamazaki, completing basic astronaut training and certification in October 2024. As of the mid-2020s she has not yet flown a space mission, but has trained on the Canadarm2 robotic arm at the Canadian Space Agency and participated in the European Space Agency's CAVES underwater and cave training programs.