The oldest in active American astronaut her NASADon Pettit, returned to the Earth on the day of his 70th birthday.
OR Soyuz MS-26 space capsule capsule carrying NASA astronaut, Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, his crew members, He parachute landing on the Kazakhstan steppe at 06:20 local time (01:20 GMT), today Sunday (20.04.2025).
Experienced astronauts spent 220 days at the International Space Station (ISS), as NASA announced. For Petit – who has spent a total of 590 days in space – it was his fourth mission.
Nasa honored his birthday, with a post on social media, wishing Pettit “Happy Birthday” and a safe return.
Happy birthday, @astro_pettit! Many happy returns (including this one)
The MS-26 Soyuz spacecraft touched down in Kazakhstan at 9:20pm ET—or, in local time, 6:20am April 20, Pettit’s 70th birthday. pic.twitter.com/qFM5fAxnA0
– In (@nasa) April 20, 2025
However, he is not the oldest man found in space – this record belongs to John Glenn (died in 2016), who at the age of 77 went on a NASA mission in 1998.
Pettit – born in Oregon on April 20, 1955 – will go to Houston, Texas, while Ovchinin and Vagner will be on the main base of Russia’s space education, Zvyozdniy Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow.
Prior to their departure from the ISS, the crew handed over the spaceship management to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, as the BBC writes.
Last month, two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, finally returned to Earth after spending more than nine months to the ISS – instead of the eight days they were originally scheduled.
They flew to the ISS in June 2024 – but technical problems with the spaceship they used to reach the space station meant that they were able to return to Earth only on March 18th of this year.