National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand Thai National Observatory (TNO) is NARIT's main facility, atop Thailand's highest mountain, Doi Inthanon in Doi Inthanon National Park, Chom Thong District, Chiang Mai Province. The concept of a national astronomical research institute was discussed for the first time in the Assembly of the Deans of the Faculty of Science in Thai universities. On July 20, 2004, commemorating His Majesty King Bhumibol's 80th Birthday Anniversary in 2007 and marking the bicentenary of the life and work of King Mongkut the "Father of Thai Science" the government approved the establishment of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), under the
Takao Doi Takao Doi Doi holds a doctorate from the University of Tokyo in aerospace engineering, and has studied and published in the fields of propulsion systems, and microgravity technology. He researched at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and was selected by NASDA as an astronaut candidate in 1985 for the Japanese manned space program while also conducting research in the United States at NASA's Lewis Research Center and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Doi flew as a mission specialist aboard STS-87 in 1997, during which he became the first Japanese astronaut to conduct a spacewalk. He received a