Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Thomas Marshburn!

Thomas Marshburn, born August 29, 1960 in Statesville, North Carolina, is a veteran of two space flights and has spent over 161 days in space. 

His first flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-127) as mission specialist to the International Space Station.  He participated in three EVAs during the mission for a total of about 19 hours.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-07M as flight engineer to the ISS in December 2012 with birthday twin Chris Hadfield.  He participated in Expeditions 34 and 35.  He returned to Earth in May 2013. 

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko!

Roman Romanenko, born August 9, 1971 in the former Soviet Union, is a cosmonaut and a veteran of two expeditions on the International Space Station.  His father is cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, a Soyuz and Mir cosmonaut.

Romanenko's first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-15 to the ISS in May 2009, where he became part of Expeditions 20 and 21.  He was the third second-generation astronaut after Sergey Volkov and Richard Garriott. 

His second trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-07M in December 2012.  He was a member of Expeditions 34 and 35.  He conducted his first space walk during this mission.

He has since retired from Roscosmos.

Soyuz TMA-07M launched 2012

L-R: Thomas Marshburn, Roman Romanenko, Chris Hadfield 

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-07M, launched December 19, 2012, carried the three members of Expedition 34 to the International Space Station.  The crew was Commander Roman Romanenko (Roscosmos), Chris Hadfield (Canadian Space Agency) and Thomas Marshburn (NASA).

They remained on the ISS until May 13, 2013 when they returned to Earth landing in Kazakhstan May 14.

Happy birthday, Chris Hadfield (first Canadian EVA)!

Chris Hadfield, born August 29, 1959 in Ontario, Canada, is a veteran of 2 space shuttle missions, one Soyuz mission and is the first Canadian to walk in space.  He was admitted to the Candian Space Agency in 1992 and his first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-74) in November 1995.  His second mission, aboard Endeavour (STS-100) in April 2001 to the International space Station, is when he performed his EVA to help install the Canadarm.

His final mission was on Soyuz TMA-07M in December 2012 to the ISS, where he spent 145 days and served as commander for the last two months, March - May 2013.

He showed us how to make  a peanut butter sandwich in outer space.