An Expedition 30 crew member aboard the International Space Station took this nighttime photograph of much of the Atlantic coast of the United States on February 6, 2012. A former high school math teacher who became an astronaut arrived at the International Space Station on his 45th birthday. UPI/NASA | License Photo
"This is the perfect gift," Acaba said. "Dreams are coming true every day up here."
Kirk Shireman, deputy manager of NASA's International Space Station program office, said the agency was happy to help Acaba have a happy birthday.
"Some people get cake and candles, and he gets the whole space station," he said.
Acaba, who became the first person of Puerto Rican heritage to visit space during a March 2009 shuttle mission, is scheduled for a four-month tour of duty alongside Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin. They are scheduled to return to Earth Sept. 17.
