It was revealed on Saturday that an upcoming episode of the Space Brothers anime series will feature the world's first voice acting performance from space. Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who boards the spacecraft Soyuz on Sunday to head to the International Space Station (ISS), will play himself in an episode of the television anime adaptation of Chūya Koyama's Uchū Kyōdai manga while on board the Station.
Hoshide's upcoming launch will mark his second time in space, and he is scheduled to spend four months on the ISS. While there, he will conduct experiments researching the effects of weightlessness on bone density, as well as ones involving small-scale satellites.
Hoshide is scheduled to appear in an episode of the anime that will air in early November. In the episode, Hibito Nanba recalls speaking to Hoshide at a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) event where children are given the chance to speak to astronauts in space. The staff of the anime will go to the Tsukuba Space Center in mid-September to conduct the recording, and are also taking submissions from the public for other questions that will be asked to Hoshide by children in the scene.
