Classicks

Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke
Nationality	American
Occupation	Flight Test Engineer
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Rank	Colonel, USAF
Time in space	187d 21h 17m
Selection	1996 NASA Group
Missions	Soyuz TMA-4, Expedition 9,Soyuz TMA-13, Expedition 18
Mission insignia	File:Expedition 18 insignia.png

Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke (born March 14 1967) in Emsworth, Pennsylvania) is a United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut, who spent six months on the International Space Station as flight engineer. He is scheduled to be the commander of ISS Expedition 18, launching on a Soyuz spacecraft in October 2008. Fincke is conversant in Japanese and Russian and Pittsburghese. He is happily married to Renita Saikia and together, they have three children: Chandra, Tarali, and newborn Surya.

Education

Fincke graduated from Sewickley Academy in Sewickley, Pennsylvania in 1985. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and graduated in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautics and astronautics as well as a bachelor's degree in Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences. He then received a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 1990 and second master's degree in planetary geology from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2001.

Organizations

• Geological Society of America (GSA)
• British Interplanetary Society

Awards and honors

• Recipient of two United States Air Force Commendation Medals
• United States Air Force Achievement Medal
• 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

Career

Fincke graduated from MIT in 1989, and immediately attended a summer exchange program with the Moscow Aviation Institute in the former Soviet Union, where he studied Cosmonautics. After graduation from Stanford University in 1990, Fincke entered the United States Air Force where he was assigned to the Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base in California. There he served as a Space Systems Engineer and a Space Test Engineer. In 1994, upon completion of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base in California, Fincke joined the 39th Flight Test Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where he served as a Flight Test Engineer working on a variety of flight test programs, flying the F-16 and 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. Fincke as of 2005 has over 800 flight hours in more than 30 different varieties of aircraft and holds the rank of Colonel.

NASA career

Fincke was selected by the 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.

In July 1999, Fincke was assigned as backup crewmember for the International Space Station Expedition 4 crew. Additionally he served as a backup for the ISS Expedition 6 crew and is qualified to fly as a left-seat Flight Engineer (co-pilot) on the Russian 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.

NASA Space Station science officer and flight engineer for ISS Expedition 9 (April 18 to Oct 23, 2004). Expedition 9 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft, docking with the International Space Station on April 21, 2004. Colonel Fincke spent six-months aboard the ISS continuing ISS science operations, maintaining Station systems, and performing four spacewalks. The Expedition-9 mission concluded with undocking from the station and safe landing back in Kazakhstan on October 23, 2004. Fincke completed his first mission in 187 days, 21 hours and 17 minutes, and logged a total of 15 hours, 45 minutes and 22 seconds of EVA time in four spacewalks.

Fincke was the back-up Commander for ISS Expedition 13 and ISS Expedition 16.

Acting

• Mike Fincke was a guest star on the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise along with fellow astronaut Terry Virts.

• He also appeared in The Wiggles video Wiggle Around the Clock (2006), demonstrating a space suit.

Trivia

• Mike Fincke was the first person in history to be off the planet when his child was born.

External links

• Spacefacts biography of Mike Fincke
• NASA biography