Recently, Astronaut Donald (Don) R. Pettit returned to Earth after a long mission at the International Space Station (ISS) the day before your 70th birthday. This was his fourth mission in space and made him the oldest active astronaut.
In addition to this latter mission, he had already acted as a crew member of the US Space Agency (NASA) in three other expeditions.
Pettit has performed different functions, since flight engineer and Scientific Officer to the Operator of Instruments aboard ISS. Adding all your trips, There are more than 590 days in space .
Who is the astronaut Don Pettit?
Graduated in Chemical Engineering from the State University of Oregon and Doctor from the University of Arizona, Pettt acted as a scientist for many years before joining NASA . He even worked on the development of technologies related to space industry.
Before being selected by the space agency, Donald was part of the team of the National Laboratory of Los Alamos, in New Mexico. His work involved experiments with aircraft and gravity, but He left the laboratory in 1996, when he was officially summoned to be an astronaut.
Despite being summoned in the 1990s, Donald only participated in his first manned space mission in 2002 when he was an operator of a robotic arm during space walks.
A space walk occurs when the astronaut needs to leave the ship or the international space station to perform repairs or other activities. Prior to his latest mission, the scientist had already performed four space walks.
His first trip to the space lasted approximately five and a half months when he acted as a scientific officer on expedition 6.
During this mission, the Columbia Space Bus accident occurred, which led NASA to temporarily reduce the number of crew to the International Space Station to two on the following flights. The explosion took place in the reentry and caused the death of seven astronauts.
Trips to Don Pettit’s space:
- Expedition 6: Alongside travel crew members Ken Bowersx and Nikolai Budarin, Petti held his first mission between November 23, 2002 and May 3, 2003. They were sent to space through the Endeavor space bus, but the columbia accident forced them to return to Russian Soyus TMA-1;
- STS-126: Between November 14 and 30, 2008, the astronaut performed his second mission aboard the Endeavor space bus, this time for just 16 days, with the aim of assisting in the expansion tasks of ISS housing;
- Expedition 30/31: Between December 21, 2011 and July 1, 2012, the engineer was launched to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Nave Soyuz. In addition to performing the ISS daily maintenance work, its mission was marked by the operation of the robotic arm to capture the first commercial load space ship, Spacex Dragon;
- Expedition 71/72: In his latest mission, he was released aboard Soyuz MS-26 ship on September 11, 2024 and returned on April 19, 2025, a day before his 70th birthday. During this period, astronaut Don Pettit acted as a flight engineer and conducted several experiments in the ISS microgravity environment.
The oldest active astronaut
After his return from expedition 71/72, some people suggested that Pettit might not be well due to their appearance of some weakness. A few days later, the oldest active astronaut appeared to be better and even smiled at the photos.
Commonly, Space crew returns weaker due to the effect of microgravity especially when they stay for a long time. Considering that this mission lasted seven months, this weakness is normal.
In an official statement, NASA mentioned that Pettit does not usually feel physically well after space flight returns. During an interview with an Oregon local newspaper, the astronaut explained that he needs at least 24 hours to feel completely recovered – and that’s exactly what he’s doing now.
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This content was originally published in who is Don Pettit, the oldest NASA astronaut active on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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