Very few people have to worry about conducting experiments in orbit while collecting a Social Security check. But NASA astronaut Don Pettit isn’t like most people. He touched down on Sunday in Kazakhstan on Soyuz MS-26 after a seven-month stay on the International Space Station. It was undoubtedly a unique way for the 29-year space veteran to celebrate his 70th birthday. Pettit even got to celebrate his birthday twice. Due to the time zone difference, it was still April 20 when Pettit flew back to Houston and arrived at the Johnson Space Center.
Pettit launched into space last September, being a part of the record total of 19 humans in space simultaneously across Soyuz MS-26, the ISS, China’s Tiangong station and SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission. While Petit might be best known for his astrophotography, he conducted research to assist future space missions. According to NASA, the chemical engineer worked to improve in-orbit metal 3D printing and push water sanitization technologies, among other projects. Pettit said:
“I come alive when I’m in orbit. It’s like my being should be in space. Some people are born to be cowboys and ride a horse, I’m born to ride a rocket and be in space.”
Pettit was one of NASA’s most experienced astronauts ever
The mission wasn’t Pettit’s first rodeo. It was his fourth spaceflight. The former Los Alamos scientist became an astronaut in 1996 and made his first voyage to space in November 2002 on Expedition 6. The five-month mission to the ISS was extended by a further two months after the Columbia disaster happened in February 2003 and grounded the Space Shuttle fleet. Petit would return to the ISS in 2008 on a 15-day resupply mission and another long-duration stay in 2011.
Pettit has spent 590 days in orbit over his career, putting him third on the all-time list for Americans. The only NASA astronauts ahead of him are Peggy Whitson and Suni Williams. Whitson spent 675 days in space before her retirement in 2018. Williams is currently 608 days after the Boeing Starliner debacle, which had her spend nine months on the ISS.
Pettit might be NASA’s oldest active astronaut, but John Glenn remains the oldest person that NASA sent to space. The sitting U.S. Senator volunteered to return to space in 1998 at 77 years old to help the agency study the effects of aging in space. It was Glenn’s second spaceflight, 36 years after he became the first American to orbit the planet.