Happy birthday, cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov!

Pavel Vinogradov, born August 31, 1953 in Magadan in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of three space flights.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TM-26 as flight engineer to the space station Mir in August 1997.  He remained on board for almost 198 days before returning to Earth in February 1998.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-8 as commander to the International Space Station in March 2006.  He participated in Expedition 13 and conducted 2 EVAs.  He returned to Earth in September after almost 181 days.

His third flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-08M as commander to the ISS in March 2013.  He participated in Expeditions 35 and 36.  He stayed aboard for over 166 days before returning to Earth in September 2013.

Happy birthday, German astronaut Thomas Reiter!

German astronaut Thomas Reiter, born May 23, 1958 in Frankfurt, West Germany, went into space for the European Space Agency.  He has spent over 350 days in space, more than any non-American or non-Russian.  He is also the first German to perform an EVA.

His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TM-22 to the space station Mir.  He was part of expedition Mir EO-20 from September 1995 to February 1996.  During this time he conducted two EVAs, becoming the first German to perform a space walk. 

His second trip was aboard Discovery (STS-121) to the International Space Station as a mission specialist in July 2006, when he became part of Expedition 13.  He remained on board the ISS to become a member of Expedition 14.  He was replaced by Sunita Williams in December, aboard Discovery (STS-116).

Soyuz TMA-8 (Expedition 13) launched 2006

Soyuz TMA-8 crew (L-R): Marcos Pontes, Jeffrey Williams, Pavel Vinogradov

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-8, launched March 30, 2006, carried members of Expedition 13 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Pavel Vinogradov (Roscosmos), Jeffrey Williams (NASA) and Marcos Pontes (first Brazilian astronaut).

Pontes spent about a week on the ISS and returned with the crew of Expedition 12 on Soyuz TMA-7.

Vinogradov and Williams stayed on the ISS until September 29 when they returned to Earth with space tourist Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space and the first self-funded woman in space.  Ansari arrived at the ISS about a week before on Soyuz TMA-9.