Don Pettit has spent 590 days in space across his four space trips. NASA
Don Pettit, America’s oldest active astronaut, landed safely back on Earth on his 70th birthday. He traveled in a space capsule with Russian astronauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Their capsule, Soyuz MS-26, landed with a parachute in the grasslands of Kazakhstan early on Sunday morning.
They spent 220 days together on the International Space Station (ISS). During their time in space, they orbited Earth 3,520 times. Pettit has now completed four space missions in his career. With this latest trip, he has spent a total of 590 days in space.
Though Pettit is the oldest currently active astronaut, he is not the oldest person to go to space. That title still belongs to John Glenn, who flew at age 77 in 1998. Glenn passed away in 2016.
Now back on Earth, the three astronauts will begin recovering from the effects of long-term space travel. They will take time to adjust to gravity again. Pettit will return to Houston, Texas. His two crewmates will travel to Star City, near Moscow, where Russian astronauts are trained.
Before leaving the ISS, the crew handed over control of the station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi.
The capsule landed in a quiet, open area of Kazakhstan known for being a common site for spacecraft landings. The landing happened smoothly, and rescue teams reached the crew soon after touchdown.
This mission comes just a month after two other American astronauts faced delays in returning home. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to spend only eight days on the ISS. Instead, they stayed for over nine months due to technical issues with their spacecraft. They finally returned to Earth on March 18, 2025.
Pettit’s return marks another successful mission for space exploration. His long time in space shows the dedication and strength needed to be an astronaut. Even at 70, he continues to be a part of space history.
