Astronaut Mike Fincke closed out three decades at NASA on Wednesday, capping a career that put him in orbit four times aboard three different classes of spacecraft. He logged 549 days off the planet and walked in space nine times in support of the International Space Station. Those spacewalks add up to 48 hours and 37 minutes outside the hatch. Fincke ranks fourth on NASA’s all-time list for cumulative time in space.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said few people have shaped as many chapters of the agency’s history. Isaacman pointed to Fincke’s work as a pilot, engineer, astronaut and mentor, and credited him with helping bridge long-duration station missions and the Artemis effort now taking shape. He thanked Fincke for decades of service and for the people he trained along the way.

Four flights, three spacecraft

He was selected in 1996 as part of NASA’s 16th astronaut class. His first trip to orbit came in 2004 aboard Soyuz TMA-4 for Expedition 9, where he worked as science officer and flight engineer, kept station systems running and performed four spacewalks. He returned in 2008 on Soyuz TMA-13 as commander of Expedition 18, adding two more spacewalks while preparing the outpost to support six-person crews.

In 2011 he flew STS-134, the last mission of space shuttle Endeavour. Fincke served as mission specialist and robotic arm operator, completed three spacewalks and helped deliver and install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Fincke’s most recent assignment was the pilot’s seat on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission, which lifted off in August 2025 and came home in January. He served as a flight engineer for Expedition 73 and then took command of Expedition 74.

Pittsburgh to Gifu

Fincke grew up in Emsworth, Pa. He earned two bachelor’s degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one in aeronautics and astronautics and one in Earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, and studied in the Soviet Union through an exchange with the Moscow Aviation Institute. He later added a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University and a master’s in planetary geology from the University of Houston, Clear Lake.

He is a retired Air Force colonel and a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. Fincke worked as a space systems engineer and flight test engineer at Edwards and Eglin Air Force bases, then served as the U.S. flight test liaison to the joint Japanese-American XF-2 fighter program at Gifu Air Base in Japan. He has more than 2,000 flight hours in over 30 types of aircraft.

Fincke said he is leaving the agency but not the work. He credited crewmates, ground teams, international partners and families for making the missions possible, and said he intends to help prepare the next group of engineers and explorers. Looking ahead, he pointed to the Moon, Mars and destinations beyond, adding that the job includes taking care of “the most beautiful planet in our solar system.”