(*70*)’s oldest astronaut Don Pettit turns 70 while falling to Earth at 17,500 mph: Watch

NASA astronaut Don Pettit is carried to a medical tent shortly after he and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner landed of their Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft close to the city of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on April 19, 2025.

(*70*) astronaut Don Pettit marked his seventieth birthday not within the quiet of retirement or with a comfy household gathering, however while plummeting again to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule after a 220-day mission aboard the International Space Station.
As Pettit and his Russian crewmates, Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, re-entered Earth’s environment on Sunday, their spacecraft streaked by way of the sky, touchdown within the desolate steppe of Kazakhstan simply after dawn. It was Pettit’s fourth spaceflight and maybe his most poetic—turning 70 while falling from house.

The trio had accomplished 3,520 orbits and traveled over 93 million miles, conducting analysis starting from hearth habits in microgravity to plant progress experiments. Pettit, now with over 18 months in house logged throughout his 29-year profession, emerged from the capsule with a thumbs-up, although wanting understandably dazed.
“Don is doing well and within the expected range following his return,” NASA mentioned, as medics checked on the astronaut earlier than his journey again to Houston.
For most individuals, 70 would possibly imply slowing down. For Don Pettit, it meant breaking the bounds of age and gravity.