Taufik Akbar is an Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 and former astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 candidate.

After graduating at the Bandung Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 in Electrical Engineering in 1975, he worked as a telecommunications engineer. Working for Telkom

Telkom (Indonesia)

PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk , commonly abbreviated as Telkom Indonesia or just Telkom, is the largest telecommunications services company in Indonesia. Telkom is a semi-privatized, majority state owned multi-listed company....

 in the development of the Palapa

Palapa

Palapa is a series of communication satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunication company.The name Palapa also alludes to "Sumpah Palapa" the oath taken by Gajah Mada, a 14th century Prime Minister of the Javanese Majapahit Empire described in the Pararaton...

 telecommunication satellite system, in October 1985 he was selected to take part in the Space Shuttle mission STS-61-H

STS-61-H

STS-61-H was a United States Space Shuttle mission planned to launch in 1986 using Columbia, however, it was cancelled after the Challenger disaster. The flight was scheduled to take place 24 June through 1 July.- Crew :* Commander: Michael L. Coats...

 as a Payload Specialist. While Pratiwi Sudarmono

Pratiwi Sudarmono

Pratiwi Pujilestari Sudarmono is an Indonesian scientist. She is currently professor of microbiology at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta....

 was chosen to be in the flight crew, he was supposed to be her backup on the mission. However after the Challenger disaster

STS-51-L

STS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time an ordinary civilian, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, had flown aboard the Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Challenger, which lifted off from the Launch Complex 39-B on 28 January...

 the deployment of commercial satellites like the Indonesian Palapa B-3 planned for that mission was canceled, thus the mission never took place. The satellite was later launched with a Delta rocket

Delta rocket

Delta is a versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. There have been more than 300 Delta rockets launched, with a 95 percent success rate. Two Delta launch systems – Delta II and Delta IV – are in active use...

.

After his astronaut career, he continued to work for Telkom. In 1990-92 he was General Manager
Telecommunication Planning, Executive General Manager for Palapa Satellites Operation (1992–1993), President Director of Aplikanusa Lintasarta (1994–2000). In 2000, he became Director of Human Resources.