who became both the first Japanese citizen and the first journalist in space, as well as the first paying non-professional astronaut to make a space flight. Tokyo Broadcasting Systems sponsored Akiyama’s trip to Mir, paying an estimated $20 million in total costs to the Soviets—making this the first commercial space flight in history. Born in Tokyo in 1942, after completing cosmonaut training in Russia Akiyama flew to Mir on 2 December 1990, aboard the Soyuz TM-11 mission, where he was considered a research cosmonaut, and spent nearly eight days making daily broadcasts to Earth.