Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke is an American astronaut who formerly held the American record for the most time in space. His record was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16, 2015.
Fincke in April 2006
Gennady Padalka performs an ultrasound exam on Fincke during Expedition 9
Fincke (left) with Sunita Williams (center) and Barry Wilmore (right) as they prepare to test the Starliner crew module.
Image: Master space badge
STS-134 was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International Space Station. Mark Kelly served as the mission commander. STS-134 was expected to be the final Space Shuttle mission if STS-135 did not receive funding from Congress. However, in February 2011, NASA stated that STS-135 would fly "regardless" of the funding situation. STS-135, flown by Atlantis, took advantage of the processing for STS-335, the Launch on Need mission that would have been necessary if the STS-134 crew became stranded in orbit.
Endeavour (left) docked to the ISS, viewed from Soyuz TMA-20; AMS-02 is visible as a white box atop the station's truss, between its solar arrays
Pictured clockwise in the STS-134 crew portrait are NASA astronauts Mark Kelly (bottom center), commander; Gregory H. Johnson, pilot; Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency's Roberto Vittori, all mission specialists.Space Shuttle program← STS-133STS-135 →
Mission poster, based on a Star Trek promotional poster.
The crew arrive at the Shuttle Landing Facility in T-38 jets on April 26, 2011.
