Astronaut Don Pittit / Photo: NASA Photo / Alamy / Profimedia
American astronaut Donald Pettit returned to Earth on Sunday on the day he turned 70, together with two Russian cosmonauts, Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, after seven months at the International Space Station (ISS), NASA announced.
“The trio left the space station (Saturday) at 6:57 pm (Washington Hour) aboard the Soiuz MS-26 spacecraft before landing with the help of the parachute at 9:20 pm (Sunday at 06:20 in Kazakhstan) at the southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan,” the American Agency said.
In his press release, NASA was glad that Pettit returned home on “the day he turned 70, on Sunday, April 20”, which, according to the American press, makes him the oldest active astronaut.
The landing of their Soiuz MS-26 spatial shuttle on Kazakhstan Stepa was confirmed by the Roscosm Russian space agency.
The photos provided by NASA showed the two Russian cosmonauts of Roscosmos, Ovchinin and Vagner, and Pettit, smiling, surrounded and assisted by the Kazakhstan soil teams.
The three men left the ground on September 11 to “spend 220 days in space, blinding the land 3,520 times, traveling 93.3 million miles”, ie 150 million kilometers, according to the US Space Agency.
During the seven months spent on the ISS, Don Pettit “conducted research to improve 3D printing capabilities, wastewater treatment technologies, plant cultivation and fire management,” NASA detailed.
On April 8, the Russian Souz MS-27 spacecraft carrying Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryjikov and Alexei Zoubritskiy, as well as astronaut NASA Jonny Kim, did to carry out 50 scientific experiments in space, according to Roscomos. They are about to return to Earth on December 9th.
Space is one of the latest areas of cooperation between Russia and the United States, whose relationships were at the lowest level due to Russian offensive in Ukraine, before Donald Trump came to power and initiate Vladimir Putin.
After more than nine months blocked in ISS, two American astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, returned to Earth on March 19, thanks to a vehicle belonging to Spacex, a company owned by the Multimiliardar and the Donald Elon Musk's ally.
