NASA’s oldest astronaut, Don Pettit, is scheduled to return to Earth on April 19 — the day he turns 70.
Currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Pettit has completed over 3,520 orbits of Earth, reports NDTV.
The latest mission marks his fourth spaceflight after Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31, and a Space Shuttle Endeavour. He spent 220 days in space on this mission, bringing his total to 590 days over his decades-long career.
Mr Pettit completed a journey of 93.3 million miles and shared multiple photographs and time-lapse videos of Earth's auroras, thunderstorms, and city lights on social media platforms.
On his X account, he posted a stunning video of formation flying, capturing Starlink satellites tracing parallel lines in the night sky.
Other than this, he shared another clip of the ISS while it rotated 180 degrees, also offering a breathtaking view of the Northern Lights.
Mr Pettit also shared a video that showed lightning-like events happening above thunderstorms over the Amazon Basin, showing Sprites, Blue Jets, and other TLEs as seen in real-time.
Mr Pettit, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will depart the ISS' Rassvet module aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. EDT, and a parachute-assisted touchdown is expected in the Kazakhstani steppe, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, at 9:20 p.m. EDT (6:20 a.m. Kazakhstan time on April 20).
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
