NASA astronaut Colonel Michael Fincke will discuss how education and amazing teachers have impacted his life and career at a talk hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Education. The talk titled, “Impact Education: Classroom to Space” will be held on Wednesday, October 4, 3:30–5 p.m. in the Art Auditorium.
Fincke is a spaceflight veteran with more than 381 days in space and nine spacewalks. Currently waiting for his next flight, he is the lead astronaut for the United States’ next two space ships that will take crew to the International Space Station, Space-X’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner.
After graduating from MIT in 1989, he attended a summer exchange program with the Moscow Aviation Institute in the former Soviet Union where he studied cosmonautics. Upon graduation from Stanford University in 1990, Fincke entered the United States Air Force where he “washed out” of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program and then was reassigned as a Space Systems Engineer and a Space Test Engineer at Los Angeles Air Force Base. As a Flight Test Engineer at Edwards and Eglin Air Force Bases, Fincke flew in F-16 and F-15 aircraft.
In January 1996, he reported to the Gifu Test Center, Gifu Air Base, Japan, where he was the United States Flight Test Liaison to the Japanese/United States XF-2 fighter program. Fincke has more than 1,100 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft types.
—By Jennifer Parks
