For Nasa's oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit, his 70th birthday did not go quietly with family and friends, cutting a cake, blowing out candles or another traditional achievement.
Instead, Don Pettit 70 became in space, while he ran to earth in a spacecraft while he completed a mission on board the international space station.
A Soyuz capsule with the American and two Russian Kosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, while Pettit celebrated his milestone birthday with a bang.
“Today at 0420 Moscow Time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 Landing with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit on board on board the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan,” said a explanation of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.
NASA said it followed its routine post landing medical checks and that the crew returns to the recovery staggering area in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
Pettit then board a NASA plane on the way to the Johnson Space Center of the Bureau in Houston, while Roscosmos said that the Russian Kosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner are leaving for a training base in Star City, Russia.
NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule that parachuted on the earth with the sunrise as a background.
Who is Don Pettit?
Donald R. Pettit, lovingly known as Don Pettit, was selected by NASA in 1966. The oldest serving NASA -Astronaut, Don Pettit has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at Oregon State University and a doctorate in Chemical Engineering.
Before he became astronaut, he was a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico.
In his first space flight, Pettit was a NASA Science Officer for Expedition 6 in 2003.
This was Pettit's fourth space travel, where he served as a refugee for expeditions 71 and 72. He registered in a job for 590 days during his career.
Pettit and his crew members include 220 days in space, made the earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles. Pettit, Ovchinin and Vagner launched and moored to the Orbiting Laboratory on September 11, 2024.
During his time on board the space station, Pettit conducted research to improve in-orbit metal 3D printing options, to develop water equipment, to explore the growth of the plants under different water conditions and research into fire behavior in micrsweerkracht, all that contribute to future space emissions.
He also used his environment on board station to conduct unique experiments in his spare time and to fascinate the public with his photography.
