NASA Astronaut Don Pettit remarkably returned to Earth on his 70th birthday. He was on a mission for seven months in the International Space Station (ISS). Pettit was on the mission with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The whole crew landed at Kazakhstan safely on 20th April, 2025.
Pettit has been to space before and this mission was his fourth one in his 29 years of space career. The purpose of this mission was to research in-orbit metal 3D printing, advanced water sanitization technologies, plant growth, and fire behaviour in microgravity.
Pettit has contributed innovations that make space living easier, including the invention of the zero-gravity coffee cup, and also captured astrophotography from the space station. On his return, he was applauded by the space community.
Post-landing, Pettit has undergone medical evaluations before returning to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Pettit’s is healthy and reacclimating to the gravity of earth.
In 2025, space tourism has taken a leap. Private companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are leading the way. Recently, an all-women crew mission by Blue Origin went on a space tour for 11 minutes. This tour included famous pop star Katy Perry and more. The suborbital flight offered the passengers an experience of weightlessness and the view of the earth’s curvature.
“The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a strong low Earth orbit economy, NASA is focusing more resources on deep space missions to the Moon as part of Artemis in preparation for future astronaut missions to Mars.” expressed by NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration in a press release.
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- NASA’s oldest astronaut Don Pettit returns to earth on 70th Birthday
