Michael Fincke

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Mike Fincke
73)
Mission insignia

Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke (born March 14, 1967) is an American astronaut who formerly held the American record for the most time in space (381.6 days). His record was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16, 2015.

Mike Fincke was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but considers its suburb Emsworth to be his hometown. He is a retired United States Air Force officer and an active NASA astronaut. So far he served two tours aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer and commander. He flew on one Space Shuttle mission, STS-134 as a mission specialist. Fincke is conversant in Japanese and Russian.[2] He is married to Renita Saikia, and together they have three children; son Chandra and daughters Tarali and Surya.[2]

Fincke logged just under 382 days in space, placing him sixth among American astronauts for the most time in space, and 40th overall. He completed nine spacewalks in

Russian Orlan spacesuits and American EMUs. His total EVA time is 48 hours and 37 minutes, placing him 14th all time on the list of spacewalkers
.

Education

Fincke graduated from

planetary sciences.[2] He then received a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 1990, and a second Master of Science degree in planetary geology from the University of Houston–Clear Lake in 2001.[2] He also attended El Camino College in Torrance, California, where he studied Japanese and geology.[2]

Career

Immediately after graduating from MIT in 1989, Fincke attended a summer exchange program with the

F-15 aircraft. In January 1996, he reported to the Gifu Test Center, Gifu Air Base in Japan, where he was the United States flight test liaison to the Japanese/United States XF-2 fighter program. By 2005, Fincke had accumulated over 800 flight hours in more than 30 different varieties of aircraft and held the rank of colonel.[2] Fincke belongs to the Geological Society of America and the British Interplanetary Society.[2]

NASA career

Fincke was selected by NASA in April 1996 to be an astronaut. He reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch serving as an International Space Station spacecraft communicator (ISS CAPCOM), a member of the Crew Test Support Team in Russia and as the ISS crew procedures team lead.[2]

In July 1999, Fincke was assigned as backup crewmember for the

Soyuz spacecraft. He was the commander of the second NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO 2) mission, living and working underwater for 7 days in May 2002.[2]

In 2013, Fincke served as cavenaut into the ESA CAVES[3] training in Sardinia, alongside Soichi Noguchi, Andreas Mogensen, Nikolai Tikhonov, Andrew Feustel and David Saint-Jacques.

Expedition 9

Gennady Padalka performs an ultrasound exam on Fincke during Expedition 9

Fincke was the space station science officer and flight engineer for ISS

EVA time in four spacewalks.[2]

Fincke was the backup commander for Expedition 13 and Expedition 16.[2]

Expedition 18

Fincke holds a Terrible Towel to support the Pittsburgh Steelers[4]

Fincke was commander of

space flight participant Richard Garriott. While Richard Garriott was aboard, Fincke participated during his personal time (along with Yury Lonchakov, Gregory Chamitoff and Richard Garriott) in filming and starring in a science-fiction movie made in space, Apogee of Fear. On April 8, 2009, Fincke, Lonchakov and space tourist Charles Simonyi
returned to Earth aboard the TMA-13.

Replacing Fincke as commander of the space station was Gennady Padalka, whom Fincke served with on Expedition 9.

STS-134

Fincke was a mission specialist on STS-134, which was his first and only flight on a Space Shuttle. Fincke made three spacewalks during the mission. He has completed 26 hours and 12 minutes of spacewalking time, bringing his total EVA time to 48 hours and 37 minutes.[2] This places him 11th all time on the list of spacewalkers.

Commercial Crew Program

Fincke (left) with Sunita Williams (center) and Barry Wilmore (right) as they prepare to test the Starliner crew module.

On January 22, 2019, NASA announced that Fincke would fly on Boeing

Barry Wilmore, Fincke, and Sunita Williams, will actually fly on the CFT mission or the first operational Starliner mission.[6] On June 16, 2022, NASA confirmed that CFT will be a two-person flight test, consisting of Wilmore and Williams. Fincke will now train as the backup spacecraft test pilot and remains eligible for assignment to a future mission.[7] On September 30, 2022, NASA announced that Fincke would fly as the pilot on the Starliner's first operational mission, Boeing Starliner-1 (PCM-1).[8]

Acting

Awards and decorations

Master Astronaut Observer Badge
Command Space Operations Badge
Width-44 crimson ribbon with two width-8 white stripes at distance 4 from the edges. Meritorious Service Medal
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
oak leaf clusters
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Air Force Achievement Medal
with oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 NASA Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 NASA Space Flight Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Bronze star
Width=44 scarlet ribbon with a central width-4 golden yellow stripe, flanked by pairs of width-1 scarlet, white, Old Glory blue, and white stripes
 National Defense Service Medal with service star
Air Force Training Ribbon
  • Distinguished graduate from the United States Air Force ROTC, Squadron Officer School and Test Pilot School Programs
  • Recipient of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School Colonel Ray Jones Award as the top Flight Test Engineer/Flight Test Navigator in class 93B
  • Recipient of the Sewickley Academy Distinguished Alumnus/a Award in 2005[13]

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
.

  1. ^ Cowling, Keith (January 25, 2009). "Today's Videos: ISS Tour With Spanky". NASA Watch. Toronto: Spaceref.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Michael Fincke Biography". NASA. 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  3. S2CID 234819922
    .
  4. ^ Malik, Tariq (January 17, 2009). "Space Commander Cheers for Steelers in NFL Playoff". Space.com.
  5. ^ Bob Granath (January 22, 2019). "NASA Announces Updated Crew Assignment for Boeing Flight Test Retrieved on January 22, 2019". NASA. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  6. ^ Clark, Stephen. "Starliner astronauts eager to see results of crew capsule test flight – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  7. ^ Potter, Sean (June 16, 2022). "NASA Updates Astronaut Assignments for Boeing Starliner Test Flight". NASA. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  8. ^ "NASA Updates Crew Assignments for First Starliner Crew Rotation Flight – NASA". Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  9. ^ JSC, Amiko Nevills (July 20, 2016). "Final Frontier Astronauts Land on Star Trek". NASA. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  10. ^ Wright, matt (September 26, 2009). "Review – Star Trek The Next Generation Movies Blu-ray Box Set". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  11. ^ The Wiggles. Wiggle Around the Clock (DVD). HIT Entertainment.
  12. ^ Booth, John (October 10, 2011). "The 15 Geekiest Episodes of PBS's Arthur". Wired. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  13. ^ Fincke Biography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Fincke.
Preceded by
Sergei Volkov
 ISS Expedition Commander
October 24, 2008, to April 8, 2009 		Succeeded by
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