This paper investigates the distributed finite-time consensus tracking problem for a group of autonomous agents modeled by multiple non-identical second-order nonlinear systems. First, a class of distributed finite-time protocols are proposed based on the relative position and relative velocity measurements. By providing a topology-dependent Lyapunov function, it is shown that distributed consensus tracking can be achieved in finite time under the condition that the nonlinear errors between the leader and the followers are bounded. Then, a new class of observer-based algorithms are designed to solve the finite time consensus tracking problem without using relative velocity measurements. The main contribution of this paper is that, by computing the value of the Lyapunov function at the initial point, the finite settling time can be theoretically estimated for second-order multi-agent systems with the proposed control protocols. Finally, the effectiveness of the analytical results is illustrated by an application in low-Earth orbit spacecraft formation flying. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.