Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT (right), and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, are visible on large screens at Mission Control in Houston as they talk about the newest member of Fincke's family. [NASA Photo]
Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT (right), and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, are visible on large screens at Mission Control in Houston as they talk about the newest member of Fincke's family. [NASA Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 22, 2004--International Space Station astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, and his wife Renita became parents for the second time Friday, June 18. Unable to contain his paternal pride, Fincke altered the beacon message on the RS0ISS Amateur Radio packet system aboard the spacecraft to transmit "It's a girl! Tarali Fincke" about once every minute as the ISS circled Earth.
"Sure beats a stork sign in the front yard," quipped ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ranson, N5VHO, at Johnson Space Center. Fincke is the first US astronaut to celebrate the birth of a child from space. Tarali is the couple's second child. She'll join a brother, Chandra, in the Fincke household.
 NASA Flight Surgeon Steve Gilmore (left) and Lead Flight Director for the current ISS crew Matt Abbott share bubble-gum gum cigars in Mission Control to celebrate the birth earlier in the day of a daughter to Renita and Mike Fincke, KE5AIT. [NASA Photo] |
 Renita Fincke (right) with son Chandra, who's wearing a flight suit bearing an Expedition 9 patch, in Moscow April 21 to see the Soyuz vehicle carrying her husband dock with the ISS. [NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls] |
 Fincke moves the Zero-G Storage Rack in the ISS Destiny laboratory so he can retrieve a spare Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM). Fincke and Padalka are scheduled to replace a failed RPCM during a spacewalk later this month. [NASA Photo] |
Fincke said his childrens' names have astronomical significance. "Her name is Tarali Paulina, and Tara is the Indian dialect meaning star," he radioed Mission Control in Houston shortly after the birth. "Our first boy, his name is Chandra, which means moon. So, my wife had already given me the moon, and now she's given me a star, and it's a privilege to happen aboard the International Space Station."
Of Indian heritage, Renita Fincke, an engineer for Wyle Laboratories, works at Johnson Space Center. Until her husband returns to Earth in October, she says she'll help him experience the first few months of their daughter's life via teleconferences, video and e-mails.
"This is a wonderful, exciting adventure for both of us, and I've supported him all the way--I support him every day," she said. "I hope that everything is successful for his mission, that he comes home safely." The couple has been married since 1999.
NASA spacecraft communicator Marcus Reagan relayed congratulations to Fincke on behalf of the Mission Control team. Russian Mission Control Center team members also extended congratulations to Fincke, who is NASA ISS science officer and flight engineer. He and ISS Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, have been in space since April. Now in the midst of their six-month mission, Fincke and Padalka soon will venture outside of the ISS to make some repairs to a gyroscope system that failed several weeks ago.
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