Mike Fincke has become the latest astronaut to retire from NASA following a recent mission to the International Space Station.
After a three-decade career with the U.S. space agency, Fincke announced that as of Wednesday, Aug. 12, he is hanging up his spacesuit. The news comes about seven months after Fincke experienced an unknown medical scare aboard the International Space Station that forced a premature end to what will now be his final mission for NASA.
The evacuation also marked the first time in history that NASA cut short an ISS mission for a medical issue.
Fincke departs NASA having spent hundreds of days at the space station and with the distinction of flying on the final mission of one of NASA’s iconic space shuttles.
But despite his retirement from the civil sector, spaceflight could still be a possibility for Fincke thanks to a booming commercial space industry. Peggy Whitson, for instance, returned to the space station in June 2025 as part of a mission with Axiom Space – her second spaceflight as a private astronaut following her own retirement from NASA in 2018.
Here’s everything to know about Fincke, his career as an astronaut and his retirement from NASA.
Mike Fincke to retire as NASA astronaut
NASA has announced that Fincke retired as an astronaut as of Wednesday, Aug. 12, ending a 30-year career.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praises Fincke’s career
In a statement, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated Fincke on his career and lauded him as a crucial part in “moving our space program forward and preparing the next generation to carry the mission even further.”
“Few people have had the opportunity to shape as many chapters of NASA’s history as Mike Fincke,” Isaacman said. “His contributions have helped position NASA for what comes next.”
In his own statement, Fincke said he remains “deeply committed to the work of exploration.”
“NASA gave me the extraordinary privilege of serving alongside remarkable people, flying and helping develop spacecraft, and contributing to the International Space Station from its earliest days through command in orbit,” Fincke said. “I am excited to carry those lessons forward and help prepare the next generation of engineers, explorers, and leaders.”
Fincke’s 549 days in space spanned 4 missions to ISS
Fincke’s career as a NASA astronaut spanned three decades and came to an end with him having notched 549 days in space across four missions. A native of Emsworth, Pennsylvania, Fincke, 59, is also a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and test pilot.
Selected as part of the 1996 astronaut class, Fincke first flew to the International Space Station in 2004 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He returned in 2008, when he served as commander of the station’s Expedition 18.
Fincke’s penultimate mission came in 2011, when he flew on a space shuttle mission to the ISS as part of the final flight for Endeavor.
He ranks fourth in terms of cumulative time spent in space, behind Peggy Whitson, Suni Williams and Don Pettit, all of whom have also retired.
Fincke medically evacuated during SpaceX Crew-11 mission
Fincke was due to make history in January during what would have been his 10th career spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The venture into the vacuum of space, also known as extravehicular activity, would have saw him tie the record with Peggy Whitson for most spacewalks by a NASA astronaut.
But the spacewalk was postponed at the last minute due to what NASA said at the time was a “medical concern with a crew member” who was part of a joint NASA and SpaceX mission known as Crew-11. All four of those astronauts, including Fincke, were then flown back to Earth early in an unprecedented medical evacuation from the space station.
Fincke, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA,) and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov then landed Thursday, Jan. 15, off the coast of California.
Fincke later revealed that he was the one who experienced the health issue. While he did not disclose specifics, he said in a February statement that it was “not an emergency, but a carefully coordinated plan to be able to take advantage of advanced medical imaging not available on the space station.”
Contributing: Rick Neale, FLORIDA TODAY
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Fincke to end NASA astronaut career after medical evac. from ISS