The end of the space mission on birthday: Don Pettit is the oldest active American astronaut. 20 April 2025, exactly on his 70th birthday, Pettit landed on Earth After 220 days of mission At the international space station, in which the Russians also participated: Aleksiej Owowiczinin and Ivan Wagner. Landing on parachutes took place in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 3:20 Polish time. NASA She posted a landing recording.
The fourth mission of the oldest active astronaut: During their mission, Pettit, Owrowin and Wagner circled the land in total 3520 times. For an American it was the fourth mission, He spent 590 days in space in space. Don Pettit began his first mission in November 2002, then he stayed in orbit 161 days. Once again he flew into space in 2008, but this time he spent “only” 15 days and 20 hours outside the earth. Its third mission took place at the turn of 2011 and 2012 and lasted almost 193 days.
How old was the oldest astronaut? Don Pettit, despite his age, is not the oldest person who has ever been in space. This title has it John Glenn, who took part in the NASA mission in 1998. Glenn He was 77 years oldwhen he rose to orbit. This is the only person who was in space and was older than Pettita at the time of the mission.
Read also: They came back! For 9 months they were “imprisoned” in orbit. End of astronauts drama.
Source: NASA, BBC