NASA astronaut Don Pettit marked a unique milestone on April 20, 2025, celebrating his 70th birthday by returning to Earth after a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This achievement makes him the oldest active-duty astronaut in NASA's history to complete a spaceflight.

Key Points

• Pettit, along with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, landed safely in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-26 capsule at 6:20 a.m. local time.
• Their mission spanned 220 days, during which they orbited Earth 3,520 times and traveled approximately 93.3 million miles.
• This mission marked Pettit's fourth spaceflight, bringing his total time in space to over 590 days.
• While he is NASA's oldest active astronaut, the record for the oldest person in space remains with John Glenn, who flew at age 77 in 1998.