Happy birthday, cosmonaut Evgeny Tarelkin!

Cosmonaut Evgeny Tarelkin, born December 29, 1974, went into space aboard Soyuz TMA-06M to the International Space Station.  He was part of the crew for Expeditions 33 and 34.  He stayed in space for over 143 days.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy!

Oleg Novitskiy, born October 12, 1971 in Belarus, has been in space twice.

 His first trip into space was as commander of Soyuz TMA-06M in October 2012 to the International Space Station.  He remained on board for Expeditions 33 and 34.  He returned to Earth in March 2013.

His second trip was aboard Soyuz MS-03 as commander in November 2016 to the ISS.  He was part of the crews of Expeditions 50 and 51, returning to Earth in June 2017.

He has spent over 340 days in space.

Soyuz TMA-06M (Expedition 33) launched 2012

Soyuz TMA-06M crew (L-R): Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-06M, launched October 23, 2012, carried members of Expedition 33 to the International Space Station.  The crew consisted of Commander Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Kevin Ford (NASA).

They greeted the residents of the ISS Sunita Williams, Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide.  They remained on board until March 2013 when they returned to Earth.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Kevin Ford!

Kevin Ford, born July 7, 1960 in Montpelier, Indiana, has made two trips to the International Space Station, once via the Space Shuttle, the other via Soyuz.

His first flight to the ISS was on Discovery (STS-128) as pilot August-September 2009.  It was the final space shuttle flight used  for  ISS crew rotation.

Ford's second trip was as Flight Engineer aboard Soyuz TMA-06M in October 2012 as part  of Expeditions 33-34.  He returned to Earth March 2013.