Happy birthday, astronaut Michael Fincke!

Michael "Spanky" Fincke, born March 14, 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been in space three times.

Fincke's first trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-4 as flight engineer in April 2004 to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 9.  He conducted four EVAs during the mission.  He returned to Earth in October 2004, after over 187 days in space.

His second trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-13 as flight engineer to the ISS in October 2008.  He was part of Expedition 18 and conducted 2 EVAs during the expedition.  He returned to Earth in April 2009.

His third flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-134) as mission specialist to the ISS in May 2011.  He conducted 3 EVAs during the mission.  He returned wiht the rest of the crew in June.

He has been selected to fly on the first crewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner, Boeing's capsule for participating in NASA's Commercial Crew Development program.  When he does, he will become the first astronaut since John Young to fly into space aboard three different launch vessels.

Soyuz TMA-13 launched 2008

Soyuz TMA-13 crew (L-R): Richard Garriott, Yury Lonchakov, Michael Fincke

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-13, launched October 12, 2008 to the International Space Station, was the 100th manned Soyuz spacecraft.  Its crew consisted of Yury Lonchakov (Roscosmos), Michael Fincke (NASA) and Richard Garriott (space tourist).

Lonchakov and Fincke were the crew of Expedition 18 and remained on the ISS until April 2009.

Richard Garriott is the son of Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott.  Space tourist Charles Simonyi returned with Lonchakov and Fincke in April 2009.

Endeavour's final launch (STS-134) 2011

STS-134 crew (L-R): Andrew Feustel, Michael Fincke, Mark Kelly, Greg H. Johnson, Greg Chamitoff, Roberto Vittori

Mission patch

Endeavour launched its final mission (STS-134), May 16, 2011.  It was the next to last shuttle flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program.  Originally thought to be the last flight, NASA decided in February 2011 that STS-135 would fly regardless of the funding situation.

Its crew was Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, Michael Fincke, Roberto Vittori, Andrew Feustel and Gregory Chamitoff.  Four EVAs were completed by three astronauts during the flight.  Drew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Michael Fincke spent a total of 28 hours and 44 minutes outside the ISS.

Endeavour landed for the final time June 1.