Happy birthday, cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin!

Aleksey Ovchinin, born September 28, 1971 in the former USSR, is a veteran of two space mission and one aborted flight.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-20M as commander to the International Space Station in March 2016.  He participated in Expeditions 47 and 48 before returning to Earth in September 2016.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz MS-10 as commander in October 2018, but the mission was aborted just after launch because the launch vehicle boosters failed.  He and fellow astronaut Nick Hague returned to Earth safely.

His third mission was aboard Soyuz MS-12 to the International Space Station in March 2019.  He participated in Expedition 59 and made commander of Expedition 60.  He returned to Earth in October 2019.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka!

Oleg Skripochka, born December 24, 1969 in the former Soviet Union, has flown to space twice and has spent almost a year in space. 

His first mission was aboard  Soyuz TMA-01M, launched in October 2010 to the International Space Station.  He was part of the crews of Expeditions 24 and 25, and  performed 3 EVAs during his stay.  He returned to Earth in May 2011.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-20M, launched in May 2016 to the ISS.  He was part of the crews of Expedition 47 and 48. 

Soyuz TMA-20M launched 2016

Soyuz TMA-20M crew (L-R): Jeff Williams, Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-20M, launched March 18, 2016, is the 129th Soyuz mission and the last flight of the Soyuz TMA-M class spacecraft, being replaced by the Soyuz-MS later in 2016.  Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksey Ovchinin, Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka, and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams of NASA.

They formed Expeditions 47 and 48 aboard the International Space Station and stayed until September 2016, when they returned to Earth.

During August 2016, they captured stunning video of Hurricanes Lester and Madeline in the Atlantic Ocean and Hurricane Gaston in the Pacific Ocean.

Happy birthday, Shuttle and Soyuz astronaut Jeff Williams!

Jeffrey Williams, born January 18, 1958 in Wisconsin, is a veteran of a space shuttle flight and three Soyuz flights.

His first trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-101) in May 2000 to the International Space Station as Mission Specialist.  Before his second trip, Williams served as the Commander of the NEEMO 3 mission on the Aquarius underwater laboratory in July 2002.

His next trip was as flight engineer on Soyuz TMA-8 for Expedition 13 on the ISS in March-September 2006.  He spent about 6 months aboard the ISS.

Williams' third mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-16 to the ISS in November 2009.  He participated in Expedition 21 and was Commander of the ISS for Expedition 22.

HIs fourth flight (and hopefully not his last) was on Soyuz TMA-20M in March 2016 for Expedition 47 and was Commander for ISS Expedition 48.