Happy birthday, Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk!

Robert Thirsk, born August 17, 1953 in British Columbia, Canada, has been in space twice.  He holds the Canadian record for most time spent in space - 204 days, 18 hours.

His first trip was aboard Columbia (STS-78) as payload specialist in June 1996.  The mission was in preparation for the International Space Station.  He stayed in space for almost 17 days.

His second trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-15 to the International Space Station in May 2009.  He participated in Expeditions 20 and 21.  He returned to Earth in December 2009.

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 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.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko!

Yuri (Yury? Whatever.) Romanenko, born August 1, 1944 in the former Soviet Union, is a cosmonaut and a veteran of three missions to space. 

His first trip was aboard Soyuz 26 to Salyut 6 in December 1977.  During this mission, he performed an EVA, lasting one and a half hours.

His second trip was with Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez on Soyuz 38 in December 1980, to Salyut 6, but remained on board for only 7 days.

His third and final mission was on Soyuz TM-2 in February 1987 to the Mir space station.  He spent 326 days aboard Mir, which was a record back then.  He also conducted 3 EVA for a total of 8 hours, 48 minutes.   He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-3 in December 1987.

He retired from flights in 1988 to become the director of the Buran program, which was cancelled in 1993.

His son Roman, born August 9, 1971, is also a cosmonaut and commanded Soyuz TMA-15.