with the National Space Development Agency (NASDA). He was selected as an astronaut by NASDA in 1996 and began training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, handling technical duties at NASA's Astronaut Office while awaiting assignment to a space shuttle flight. He flew aboard Discovery in July–August 2005 on the first space shuttle mission following the Columbia disaster of 2003. Noguchi returned to space in December 2009 aboard a Soyuz taxi flight to the International Space Station, where he stayed for five months, during which time he became popular for sharing views from space on Twitter and being the first astronaut to make sushi in space.