Experienced NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke Returns | International Space Station

Experienced NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke Returns | International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineer and veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke: "ISS Expedition 73 in the house! Just got here yesterday, felt so very familiar, like I never left. Spending time getting reacquainted with my friends and the International Space Station. Very glad to be here."

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is the pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission. This is his fourth spaceflight. The Pennsylvania native also traveled to space as part of Expedition 9 in 2004, Expedition 18 in 2009, and STS-134 in 2011. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1996. Upon his arrival to the International Space Station with Crew-11, he became an Expedition 73 flight engineer and began a long-duration science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory.

For Expedition 9, Fincke served as Science Officer and Flight Engineer during his six-month stay aboard the space station. While there, he performed four spacewalks. For Expedition 18, Fincke served as station commander, where he and his crew prepared the station for future six-person crews. For STS-134, he served as mission specialist and completed three spacewalks. Colonel Fincke has logged more than a year in orbit with nine spacewalks totaling 48 hours and 37 minutes of spacewalking time. 

Astronaut Mike Fincke NASA Biography: 

https://www.nasa.gov/people/edward-michael-mike-fincke/

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: JAXA Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi

JAXA Flight Engineer: Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Date: Aug. 3, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #SpaceX #NASASpaceXCrew11 #Astronauts #MikeFincke #NicholeAyers #ZenaCardman #KimiyaYui #JonnyKim #AnneMcClain #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Cosmonaut #OlegPlatonov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education