NASA’s Oldest Astronaut Don Pettit Set to Return to Earth

New Delhi: NASA astronaut Don Pettit, the agency’s oldest active astronaut at age 70, is set to return to Earth on April 19 marking both the end of his fourth mission and a milestone birthday. Currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Pettit has spent 220 days on this latest mission, bringing his lifetime total to 590 days in space.

This mission saw Pettit complete over 3,520 orbits of Earth and travel more than 93.3 million miles since launching aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft.

Pettit actively shared his experiences from the ISS via social media. Through a series of striking images and time-lapse videos, he offered Earth-bound audiences a rare look at phenomena like auroras, thunderstorms, and the glowing webs of city lights seen from space.

In one video posted on his X account (@astro_Pettit), Pettit captured a mesmerizing formation flight of Starlink satellites tracing synchronized paths across the sky. In another post, he showcased a 180-degree rotation of the ISS, delivering a stunning view of the Northern Lights.

Capturing the Beauty and Science of Earth’s Atmosphere

One of Pettit’s most remarkable shares was a video of the aurora, captured while the ISS was orbiting between Australia and Antarctica. He credited fellow astronaut and photographer @astro_jannicke, who is now on the private FRAM2 mission in polar orbit, with the possibility of an even better view.

Another standout clip featured rare lightning phenomena—Sprites, Blue Jets, and other Transient Luminous Events (TLEs)—flickering above thunderstorms in the Amazon Basin. “OK, this is kind of out there and caters to your inner Uber-Geek,” Pettit captioned the post, explaining that the six-second real-time video revealed a host of TLE displays from a nadir, or downward-looking, perspective.

Pettit’s return to Earth will be aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The crew is scheduled to undock from the ISS’ Rassvet module at 5:57 p.m. EDT on April 19. A parachute-assisted landing is expected at 9:20 p.m. EDT (6:20 a.m. local time on April 20) in the Kazakhstani steppe southeast of Dzhezkazgan.