Zena Cardman is Commander, Mike Finke the Mission Pilot

Late this afternoon, NASA announced the astronauts and cosmonaut that will comprise the members of Crew 11 that will be part of the next rotation aboard the International Space Station.

Astronaut Zena Cardman was one of two astronauts reassigned from Crew 9 after it was decided to use their seats on that flight to return Boeing CFT astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. She will now command Crew 11. Mike Finke, who was slated to fly aboard Starliner-1, is now part of this mission and will be aboard Crew Dragon.

Commander Zena Cardman

Cardman will be making her first spaceflight on this mission. holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology plus a master’s in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While a doctoral candidate, Cardman researched geobiology and geochemical cycling in subsurface environments, from caves to deep-sea sediments. Since joining NASA, she has supported real-time ISS operations and development for lunar surface exploration.

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Her research adventures took her to remote field sites from the Arctic to Antarctica, which, in retrospect, seem like perfect training grounds for the isolation of space.

Before joining NASA, Cardman was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a doctoral candidate in Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, studying geobiology and novel redox couples in Earth’s subsurface.

Cardman’s hobbies include rock climbing, caving, poetry, and powerlifting.

Pilot Mike Fincke

​Edward Michael “Mike” Fincke, born on March 14, 1967, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a distinguished American astronaut and retired United States Air Force colonel.

Finke earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences from MIT in 1989. Furthering his education, Fincke obtained a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 1990 and another in Planetary Geology from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2001.

His military career includes serving as a Space Systems Engineer and Test Engineer, accumulating over 800 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft types.

Selected by NASA in 1996, Fincke has participated in three spaceflights. His first mission was Expedition 9 in 2004, where he served as Science Officer and Flight Engineer aboard the International Space Station (ISS), conducting four spacewalks totaling over 15 hours.

In 2008, he commanded Expedition 18, focusing on preparing the ISS for future six-person crews.

His third mission was STS-134 in 2011, the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, during which he performed three additional spacewalks. Cumulatively, Fincke has spent 382 days in space and completed nine spacewalks, totaling 48 hours and 37 minutes.

In January 2019, NASA assigned Fincke as the pilot for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT). However, in June 2022, NASA revised the mission’s crew composition, assigning Fincke as the backup spacecraft test pilot for CFT, with astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams becoming the prime crew for that flight and all of the controversy that followed.

In September 2022, Finke was designated as the pilot for Starliner-1, the first operational mission of the Starliner spacecraft. As of March 2025, however, NASA reassigned Fincke to serve as the pilot for the SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the ISS. This will undoubtedly raise questions about why Finke was taken off of Starliner, which NASA said today is expected to fly again near the end of this year.

Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov

Oleg Vladimirovich Platonov, was born on June 27, 1986, in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and is a distinguished Russian cosmonaut and former military pilot.

He graduated from the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots on October 18, 2008, earning an engineering degree in Aircraft Operation and Air Traffic Management. Following his education, Platonov served in the Russian Air Force from October 2008 to November 2018, where he piloted aircraft such as the Su-27, Su-30, and Su-35, and participated in military operations in Syria. ​

In 2018, Platonov was selected as a cosmonaut candidate by Roscosmos as part of their Group 17. After completing his basic training, he was officially qualified as a test cosmonaut. His initial assignment was to the Soyuz MS-25 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025. However, in February 2025, Roscosmos announced that Platonov would instead fly aboard the SpaceX Crew-11 mission, scheduled for the second half of 2025, as part of a seat-swap agreement with NASA.

Platonov’s extensive experience as a military pilot and his rigorous cosmonaut training position him to make significant contributions to the Crew-11 mission.

​Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui

​Kimiya Yui, born on January 30, 1970, in Kawakami, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese astronaut affiliated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

He graduated from the National Defense Academy of Japan in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in engineering. Following his graduation, Yui joined the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), where he served as a pilot and test pilot for aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring from the JASDF in March 2009 to pursue a career in space exploration.

In February 2009, Yui was selected by JAXA as an astronaut candidate. After completing basic training, he was certified as an International Space Station (ISS) astronaut in July 2011. In June 2012, Yui participated in NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 16, an undersea exploration mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, where he and his crewmates spent 12 days conducting research and simulations pertinent to space missions.

Yui’s first spaceflight was as a flight engineer for ISS Expeditions 44 and 45. He launched aboard Soyuz TMA-17M on July 22, 2015, alongside Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren. During his 141-day mission, Yui contributed to various scientific experiments and technological demonstrations aboard the ISS. The mission concluded with their safe return to Earth on December 11, 2015.