NASA’s oldest astronaut back on earth-on his 70th birthday
Nasa-Austrianen Don Pettit and his Russian co-worker Alexei Ovtjinin and Ivan Vagner landed southeast on the city of Zjezkazgan in Kazakhstan early Sunday morning. Pictures that NASA published show how the little capsule that the men sat in traveled the last bit down to the ground in a parachute, with the sunrise as a background.
At the space station, the group worked, among other things, to investigate how plants grow under different types of conditions. During his 220 days, the team got over 3,500 laps around the earth.
It was the fourth The space assignment for Don Pettit, who was selected in NASA’s 16th astronaut group in December 1996. In a statement, the US space authority writes that he was feeling well « within the framework of what is expected » after the return to the earth.
Although Don Pettit with his 70 years is NASA’s oldest active astronaut, he is not the oldest astronaut ever. In 1998, 77-year-old American John Glenn was involved in a NASA mission to investigate how older people are affected by microgravity.
Space research is one of the only areas of cooperation that remains between the US and Russia, writes The Guardian. Virtually all other bands between the countries have been cut after Russia invasion of Ukraine 2022.
