Celebrating a remarkable 70th birthday, Dan Pettit, the oldest active astronaut, returns to Earth after a lengthy mission aboard the ISS, highlighting the wonders of aging in space exploration.
Oldest Astronaut Celebrates 70th Birthday with Historic Return to Earth
Oldest Astronaut Celebrates 70th Birthday with Historic Return to Earth
NASA veteran Dan Pettit makes a remarkable comeback from space as he marks a significant milestone.
In a significant milestone for space exploration, Dan Pettit, America's oldest serving astronaut, has returned to Earth on his 70th birthday. The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, which carried Pettit alongside Russian crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, made a parachute-assisted landing in the Kazakh steppe at 06:20 local time (01:20 GMT) on Sunday. Their time aboard the International Space Station (ISS) spanned 220 days, during which they orbited the Earth a remarkable 3,520 times.
Pettit's total time in space now stands at 590 days across four missions, marking a significant leap in his stellar career. Although he celebrated this milestone, he is still not the record-holder for the oldest person in orbit; that honor belongs to John Glenn, who flew at 77 onboard a NASA mission in 1998 before passing away in 2016. Following their return, Pettit will spend some time readjusting to life on Earth before traveling to Houston, Texas, while his Russian colleagues will head to Russia's primary space training center in Zvyozdniy Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow.
Prior to their Earthbound journey, the crew transferred command of the ISS to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. In recent news, two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, also returned to Earth after unexpectedly extended travels aboard the ISS, which lasted over nine months due to technical issues with their shuttle.
Pettit's total time in space now stands at 590 days across four missions, marking a significant leap in his stellar career. Although he celebrated this milestone, he is still not the record-holder for the oldest person in orbit; that honor belongs to John Glenn, who flew at 77 onboard a NASA mission in 1998 before passing away in 2016. Following their return, Pettit will spend some time readjusting to life on Earth before traveling to Houston, Texas, while his Russian colleagues will head to Russia's primary space training center in Zvyozdniy Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow.
Prior to their Earthbound journey, the crew transferred command of the ISS to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. In recent news, two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, also returned to Earth after unexpectedly extended travels aboard the ISS, which lasted over nine months due to technical issues with their shuttle.
