NASA’s oldest astronaut, Don Pettit, is completing his fourth space mission, which has lasted more than 220 days. Together with Roscosmos cosmonauts, he will return from the ISS to Earth on April 19 on the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft and land in the Kazakh steppe on April 20 – just in time for his 70th birthday. It will be the culmination of an epic journey during which the trio traveled 150 million kilometers, making 3,520 orbits around the Earth.
For Pettit, who has been an astronaut with NASA since 2002, the flight has been a true test of endurance for his venerable age. During his fourth visit to the ISS, he served as flight engineer for Expedition 71 and 72 missions. During his career, he has spent a total of 590 days in orbit.
In addition to scientific experiments, Pettit is also known to the world as a space photographer. He took hundreds of unique photographs of Earth from space: star bands over oceans, auroras, rocket launches from Earth, and the silvery silhouettes of other spacecraft. His work is not only strikingly beautiful, but also helps to explore atmospheric phenomena.
For Pettit, the journey became a symbol of age and technology: at 70, he has proven that space is open to all who are not afraid to dream.
Earlier we reported on how Don Pettit invented a funny way to put on pants on the ISS.
According to NASA
