Happy birthday, cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko!

Oleg Kononenko, born June 21, 1964 in the former Soviet Union, has been into space four times.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-12 to the International Space Station in April 2008.  He participated in Expedition 17 and returned to Earth in October 2008.

His second mission was as commander aboard Soyuz TMA-03M in December 2011 to the ISS.  He participated in Expeditions 30 and 31.  He returned to Earth in July 2012.

Kononenko's third flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-17M as commander to the ISS in July 2015.  He participated in Expeditions 44 and 45.  He returned to Earth in December 2015.

His fourth flight was aboard Soyuz MS-11 as commander to the ISS in June 2018.  He participated in Expeditions 58 and 59. He returned to Earth in December 2018.

He has conducted 4 EVAs for a total of 24 hours and 28 minutes.

Happy birthday, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui!

Kimiya Yui, born January 30, 1970 in Japan, has spent 141 days in space aboard the International Space Station.  He went aboard Soyuz TMA-17M in July 2015 and served as part of Expeditions 44 and 45.  He returned to Earth December 2015.

Prior to going to space, Yui was an aquanaut in the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory in June 2012.  He was part of expedition NEEMO 16.

Happy birthday, astronaut Kjell Lindgren!

Kjell Lindgren, born January 23, 1973 in Taipei, Taiwan, is a NASA astronaut and has spent 141 days on the International Space Station.  He went into space aboard Soyuz TMA-17M in July 2015 as part of Expeditions 44 and 45.  He returned to Earth in December 2015.

During the mission, he played the bagpipes aboard the ISS, a first.

Soyuz TMA-18M launched 2015

Soyuz TMA-18M launch crew (L-R): Andreas Morgensen, Sergey Volkov, Aidyn Aimbetov

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-18M, launched September 2, 2015 to the International Space Station, carried the first Danish astronaut Andreas Morgensen (ESA) and the first Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov into space.  Its commander was cosmonaut Sergey Volkov (Roscosmos), who stayed aboard the ISS until March 2016 as part of Expedition 45.  Morgensen and Aimbetov returned about 10 days later on Soyuz TMA-16M.

He returned with Scott Kelly (NASA) and Mikhail Korniyenko (Roscosmos), members of Expedition 46.