Don Pettit just marked his 70th birthday with a bang—by crash-landing (safely) back on Earth after 220 days in orbit.
That’s one way to light the candles.
Alongside Russian crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, Pettit touched down in the vast Kazakh steppe.
They arrived early Sunday morning aboard a Soyuz capsule, parachutes and all.
Their ride? A casual 3,520 laps around Earth aboard the International Space Station.
This was Pettit’s fourth mission, bringing his space résumé to an impressive 590 days off-planet.
He’s officially NASA’s oldest active astronaut, though he’s still a few years shy of the late John Glenn’s record flight at 77.
What’s Next?
Gravity rehab. Then Pettit heads back to Houston, while his Russian counterparts return to Star City near Moscow.
Before leaving the ISS, the trio handed over command to Japan’s Takuya Onishi—because even space needs smooth transitions.
And in case you forgot how unpredictable space travel can be, remember NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams?
Their eight-day trip turned into a nine-month odyssey due to spacecraft issues.
For Pettit, age is clearly just a number.
And apparently, 70 is the new zero-gravity.
