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, German astronaut Ulf Merbold!

Dr. Ulf Merbold, born June 20, 1941 in Germany, is a retired European Space Agency astronaut and went into space three times. 

His first mission was aboard Columbia (STS-9) as payload specialist in November-December 1983.  He is the first non-US citizen to reach orbit in a US spacecraft.

His second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-42) as payload specialist in January 1992.  The main goal of the mission was to study microgravity on different organisms.

His third and final mission was aboard Soyuz TM-20 as research cosmonaut to the space station Mir in October 1994.  He participated in a month-long expedition Euromir 94.  He returned to Earth in November 1994 on Soyuz TM-19.

Soyuz TM-20 launched 1994

Soyuz TM-20 crew (L-R): Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova, Ulf Merbold

Mission patch

Soyuz TM-20, launched October 4, 1994, was the 20th mission to the Mir space station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova, and Ulf Merbold (ESA).

Merbold returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-19, while Viktorenko and Kondakova remained on the space station as part of Mir EO-17.  Valeri Polyakov, who had been on board since Mir EO-15 returned to Earth with them in March 1995.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko!

Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko, born December 22, 1951 in the Ukraine, has spent more time in space than anybody, except for fellow cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.  He is a veteran of 5 Soyuz missions and one Space Shuttle flight.  He has been aboard Mir and the International Space Station.  As of June 2016, he has spent a little over 827 days in space.

His first flight was as commander aboard Soyuz TM-19 to Mir in July 1994, where he spent 4 months. 

His next mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-106) in September 2000 as mission specialist.

His third flight was on Soyuz TMA-2 in April 2003 to the ISS.  While on board, he got married got married to Ekaterina Dmitrieva August 10, 2003. She was in Texas and he was 240 miles over New Zealand.  He is the first person to get married while in space.


Malenchenko's fourth flight was on Soyuz TMA-11 as commander in October 2007 to the International Space Station.  His fellow astronauts were Peggy Whitson, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (first Malaysian astronaut) and Yi So-yeon (the first Korean astronaut).

On the 37th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, he blasted off on Soyuz TMA-05M July 2012.

His final flight was on Soyuz TMA-19M in December 2015.