Happy birthday, cosmonaut Maksim Surayev!

Maksim Surayev, born May 24, 1972 in the former USSR, is a veteran of two space missions.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-16 to the International Space Station, launched in September 2009.  He participated in Expeditions 21 and 22. 

His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-13M to the International Space Station in May 2014.  He participated in Expeditions 40 and 41.  He returned to Earth in November 2014.

Surayev conducted two EVAs.  The first on January 14, 2010 with fellow cosmonaut Oleg Kotov.  The second with Aleksandr Samokutyaev in October 22, 2014.  The total time he has spent on EVAs is 9 hours, 22 minutes.

Soyuz TMA-10 launched 2007

Soyuz TMA-10 crew (L-R): Charles Simonyi, Oleg Kotov, Fyodor Yurchikhin

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-10, launched April 7, 2007, carried members of Expedition 15 and a space tourist to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin.  The tourist was Charles Simonyi of Hungary.

Simonyi stayed on board for 26 days and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-9.  Kotov and Yurchikhin remained on the ISS until October 2007.

Soyuz TMA-17 launched 2009

L-R: Tim Creamer, Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-17, the 104th flight of the Soyuz program, launched three crew members of Expedition 22 to the International Space Station, December 20, 2009.  On board were Commander Oleg Kotov (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Timothy Creamer (NASA) and Soichi Noguchi (JAXA).

Soichi Noguchi is the second Japanese astronaut, but the first from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).  Toyohiro Akiyama, the first Japanese in space, went up in 1990-1991.  JAXA was founded in 2003.

Soyuz TMA-17 returned to Earth, landing on May 26, 2010.