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.

Happy birthday, ESA astronaut Frank De Winne!

Frank De Winne, born April 25, 1961 in Belgium, has been in space twice and is the second Belgian astronaut after Dirk Frimout.

His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-1 as Flight Engineer in October 2002 to the International Space Station.  He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-34 in November.

His second trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-15 as Flight Engineer to the ISS in May 2009.  He returned to Earth in December 2009.

He spent over 198 days in space.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin!

Sergei Zalyotin, born April 21, 1962 in Russia, went into space twice.

His first mission was aboard Soyuz TM-30 as Commander to the space station Mir in April 2000.  He participated in expedition Mir EO-38.  It was the final human spaceflight to Mir. He returned to Earth in June 16 after about 72 days in space.

His second and final mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-1 as Commander to the International Space Station in October 30, 2002.  He remained on board almost two weeks and returned to Earth in November aboard Soyuz TM-34.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov!

Yury Lonchakov, born March 4, 1965 in Kazakhstan, is a veteran of three space flights.  His first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-100) as mission specialist in April-May 2001.  The objective of the mission was to install the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.

His second trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-1 to the ISS.  He stayed aboard for almost 11 days before returning to Earth via Soyuz TM-34.

His third and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-13 as commander to the ISS.  He was part of the crew of Expedition 18.  He returned to Earth in April 2009.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Kenneth Bowersox!

Kenneth Bowersox, born November 14, 1956 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is a veteran of five space shuttle missions. 

His first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-50) as pilot in June-July 1992.  The mission carried the first US Microgravity Laboratory into space.

His second trip was aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as pilot in December 1993.  It was the mission that corrected the Hubble Space Telescope's "spherical aberration".

His third trip was aboard Columbia (STS-73) as commander in October-November 1995.  He became the youngest person ever to command a space shuttle at 38 years, 11 months old.

His fourth trip was aboard Discovery (STS-82) as commander in February 1997.  It was the second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

His fifth and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-113) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in November 2002.  He served as commander for Expedition 6 with fellow astronaut Donald Pettit and Nikolai Budarin (Roscosmos).  They returned to Earth in May 2003 aboard Soyuz TMA-1.

Soyuz TMA-1 launched 2002

Soyuz TMA-1 crew (L-R): Frank de Winne, Sergei Zalyotin and Yuri Lonchakov

Soyuz TMA-1 mission patch

Soyuz TMA-1 was launched October 30, 2002 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted  of Commander Sergei Zalyotin, Flight Engineer Frank De Winne (ESA) and Yury Lonchakov.  The crew returned on Soyuz TM-34, which landed November 10.

The landing crew consisted of Commander Nikolai Budarin, Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit, who returned to Earth May 4, 2003.

Soyuz TMA-1 was in orbit when the Columbia disaster occurred, and that forced a change in how crews were changed out.  The Soyuz spacecraft became the sole method to exchange crews on the ISS until  the space shuttle program was reinstated in July 2005.