Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yuri Shargin!

Yuri Shargin, born March 20, 1960 in the former Soviet Union, went into space once aboard Soyuz TMA-5 in October 2004 to the International Space Station.  He remained on board for just over 9 days and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-4.

Happy birthday, astronaut Michael Fincke!

Michael "Spanky" Fincke, born March 14, 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been in space three times.

Fincke's first trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-4 as flight engineer in April 2004 to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 9.  He conducted four EVAs during the mission.  He returned to Earth in October 2004, after over 187 days in space.

His second trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-13 as flight engineer to the ISS in October 2008.  He was part of Expedition 18 and conducted 2 EVAs during the expedition.  He returned to Earth in April 2009.

His third flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-134) as mission specialist to the ISS in May 2011.  He conducted 3 EVAs during the mission.  He returned wiht the rest of the crew in June.

He has been selected to fly on the first crewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner, Boeing's capsule for participating in NASA's Commercial Crew Development program.  When he does, he will become the first astronaut since John Young to fly into space aboard three different launch vessels.

Soyuz TMA-5 launched 2004

Soyuz TMA-5 crew (L-R): Leroy Chiao, Yuri Shargin, Salizhan Sharipov

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-5, launched October 14, 2004, carried members of Expedition 10 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of  Commander Salizhan Sharipov (Roscosmos), Leroy Chiao (NASA), and Yuri Shargin (Roscosmos).

Shargin stayed eight days and returned on Soyuz TMA-4.  Sharipov and Chiao remained on the ISS until they returned in April 2005 with Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori (ESA). 

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka!

Gennady Padalka, born June 21, 1958, holds the current record for the longest time spent in space, 879 days.  That's time spent on both Mir and the International Space Station.  He attained the rank of colonel in the Russian Air Force.

His first flight into space was aboard Soyuz TM-28 in August 1998 as commander as part of Mir expedition EO-26. He returned to Earth in February 1999.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-4 in April 2004 as commander to the ISS as part of Expedition 9.

His third flight was on Soyuz TMA-14 in March 2009 as commander of Expeditions 19 and 20 on the ISS.  During the mission, he logged almost 16 hours of EVA time.

His fourth flight was on Soyuz TMA-04M in May 2012 as flight engineer for Expedition 31 and then commander of Expedition 32.

His fifth and final flight was about Soyuz TMA-16M in March 2015 as commander for Expeditions 43 and 44.

Happy birthday, Dutch astronaut André Kuipers

Andre Kuipers, born October 5, 1958 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the second Dutch citizen and the third Dutch-born astronaut in space.  The first Dutch-born astronaut, Lodewijk van den Berg was born in Zeeland but had become a U.S. citizen when he flew on the Space Shuttle, so was no longer a Dutch citizen. 

Kuipers was accepted into the ESA Astronaut Corps in 1998.  His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-4 in April 2004 to the International Space Station.  He conducted 21 experiments in just 11 days before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-3.

He returned to space December 2011 aboard Soyuz TMA-03M to the ISS as the Flight Engineer and Medical Crew Officer.  He remained until July 1, 2012 when he returned to Earth.