E. Michael Fincke
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
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Colonel Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke (born 14 March 1967; age 41) is a Nasa astronaut who made an appearance as Lieutenant M. Fincke in the last episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "These Are the Voyages...". Fincke received credit as an Engineer in the end credits of the episode.
Fincke was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Edward and Alma Fincke. He graduated from the Sewickley Academy in Sewickley, Pennsylvania in 1985 and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 1989 with a bachelor of science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a bachelor of science in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Fincke also received a master of science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Stanford University in 1990. He did a summer exchange program with the Moscow Aviation Institute, studied cosmonautics, and joined the United States Air Force after graduation from the Stanford University. Fincke made the pilot training in 1991 and was stationed at the Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center in Los Angeles, California.
Fincke made his career as a pilot with over 825 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft types, until he was recruited by the NASA in April 1996. He then joined and commanded several space missions, including the ISS Expedition-9 with six months in space. Fincke received several awards and special honors such as a NASA Distinguished Service Medal, a NASA Spaceflight Medal, and a United States Air Force Test Pilot School Colonel Ray Jones Award.
Fincke and fellow astronaut Terry Virts visited the set of Star Trek: Enterprise during their vacation and were invited to appear in the final episode. While in space and orbiting Earth, he had the chance to speak with Scott Bakula via space to ground link and was later awarded with a "Starfleet Award" (actually a trophy-size replica of the Starfleet emblem, [1]) for his work on board the ISS. [2]
Fincke is living with his wife Renita Saika and his three children. He will lead the ISS Expedition-18, including a Soyuz launch in October 2008 and several shuttle launches in 2008 and 2009.
