1988 XT. Discovered 1988 Dec. 3 by K. Endate and K. Watanabe at Kitami.

Named in honor of Kouichi Wakata, chosen by NASDA as the astronaut in 1992 among 372 applicants, after receiving a master’s degree in applied dynamics at the University of Kyushu and working for Japan Air Lines. In January 1996 he was on board the space shuttle Endeavor and succeeded in recovering a Japanese satellite. (M 29146)