Japanese Journalist Rockets Into Space

A Soviet rocket rode a column of fire into orbit Sunday, carrying two cosmonauts and a Tokyo television reporter who became the first journalist, and first Japanese, in space.

The liftoff--which also launched Soviet efforts to commercialize their space program--was right on schedule, under bright, sunny skies on the remote Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan, 1,200 miles east of Moscow.

Journalist Toyohiro Akiyama, 48, joined Soviet cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Musa Manarov in the Soyuz TM-11 space capsule. Akiyama is a passenger under a contract between the Soviet Union and Tokyo Broadcasting System.

TBS, Japan’s biggest private television company, is reported to have paid the Soviets as much as $12 million to have its correspondent take part in the mission. Underscoring the commercial nature of the mission, the Soviet rocket had advertising slogans for TBS and other Japanese companies emblazoned on its sides.

“I feel fine,” Akiyama said minutes before the 1:13 p.m. (12:13 a.m. PST) liftoff. During the eight-day mission, he will document the experience on radio and television for TBS.

“I’m looking out the window now,” were Akiyama’s first words from space seconds after the Soyuz TM-11 slipped into orbit. The transmission was then cut off as the spacecraft began to chase the Soviet Mir space station, from which Akiyama will broadcast his reports.

Akiyama, a TBS news director who quit a four-pack-a-day cigarette habit during training, was asked before liftoff what he looked forward to most on his return.

“I can’t wait to have a smoke,” he said.

Akiyama will return to Earth with cosmonauts Gennady Manakov and Gennady Strekalov, the current Mir crew. They will end a four-month stay in space and be replaced by Afanasyev and Manarov, who will stay aboard the space station for six months.

In addition to live broadcasts, Akiyama will photograph environmental damage on Earth and conduct experiments on Japanese tree frogs to see how they cope in a gravity-free environment.

TBS also hopes to arrange a telephone call Friday among Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and the cosmonauts.