Happy birthday, Kazakh cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev!

Talgat Musabayev, born January 7, 1951 in present-day Kazakhstan, is a veteran of three space flights.  

His first trip was aboard Soyuz TM-19 as Flight Engineer to the space station Mir, in July 1994.  He participated in expedition Mir EO-16 and returned to Earth in November 1994.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TM-27 as Commander to Mir in January 1998.  He participated in expedition Mir EO-25 and returned to Earth in August 1998.

His third and final mission was aboard Soyuz TM-32 to the International Space Station in April 2001.  He participated in expedition ISS EP-1.  He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-31 in May 2001.

He has spent over 341 days in space. 

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin!

Nikolai Budarin, born April 29, 1953 in Russia, is a veteran of three trips to space. 

His first trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-71) as mission specialist in June 1995 to the space station Mir.  He remained on board for over 75 days and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-21 in September 1995.  He was part of expedition Mir EO-19.

His second trip into space was aboard Soyuz TM-27 in January 1998 to Mir.  He participated in expedition Mir EO-25 and returned to Earth in August 1998.

His third and final trip into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-113) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in November 2002.  He took part in Expedition 6 and returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-1 in May 2003.

During his career he has performed eight EVAs for a total of 44 hours.