Don Pettit, NASA’s oldest astronaut, is about to return from house on April 19, his seventieth birthday. Mr Pettit, at the moment aboard the Worldwide House Station (ISS), has accomplished greater than 3,520 orbits of Earth.
The most recent mission marks his fourth spaceflight after Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31, and a House Shuttle Endeavour. He spent 220 days in house on this mission, bringing his whole to 590 days over his decades-long profession.
Mr Pettit accomplished a journey of 93.3 million miles and shared a number of pictures and time-lapse movies of Earth’s auroras, thunderstorms, and metropolis lights on social media platforms.
Picture Posted On X By: @astro_Pettit
On his X account, he posted a surprising video of formation flying, capturing Starlink satellites tracing parallel strains within the evening sky.
Formation flying; Starlink satellites tracing parallel strains within the sky.
Because of @BabakTafreshi for assembling this clip from timelapse photographs. pic.twitter.com/9vCKt1lCx5— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 11, 2025
Aside from this, he shared one other clip of the ISS whereas it rotated 180 levels, additionally providing a panoramic view of the Northern Lights.
Adjustments in perspective, modifications in latitude: @Space_Station We rotated 180 levels and flew backwards for yesterday’s Soyuz docking. This can be a bit lengthy however preserve awaiting the shock within the center. pic.twitter.com/UDEp8zKDwE
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 9, 2025
In one other put up, sharing a video of aurora seen between Australia and Antarctica, he wrote, “Aurora seen right now from @Space_Station whereas orbit was passing between Australia and Antarctica; photographer @astro_jannicke now on the personal FRAM2 house mission shall be having a good higher view of their polar orbit.”
Aurora seen right now from @Space_Station whereas orbit was passing between Australia and Antartrica; photographer @astro_jannicke now on the personal FRAM2 house mission shall be having a good higher view of their polar orbit. pic.twitter.com/8IIiWBDtu8
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 4, 2025
Mr Pettit additionally shared a video that confirmed lightning-like occasions taking place above thunderstorms over the Amazon Basin, exhibiting Sprites, Blue Jets, and different TLEs as seen in real-time.
Picture Posted On X By: @astro_Pettit
“OK, that is type of on the market and caters to your inside Uber-Geek. Nadir view of Transient Luminous Occasions (TLE ) or higher atmospheric lightning,” he wrote. The clip’s actual time was about 6 seconds over the Amazon basin and confirmed plenty of TLE shows from Sprites to blue jets from a downward-looking view, he added.
OK, that is type of on the market and caters to your inside Uber-Geek. Nadir view of Transient Luminous Occasions (TLE ) or higher atmospheric lightning. This clip actual time is about 6 seconds over the Amazon basin and reveals plenty of TLE shows from Sprites to blue jets from a… pic.twitter.com/IE0Edtm2Rl
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 3, 2025
Mr Pettit, together with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will depart the ISS’ Rassvet module aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. EDT, and a parachute-assisted landing is anticipated within the Kazakhstani steppe, southeast of Dzhezkazgan, at 9:20 p.m. EDT (6:20 a.m. Kazakhstan time on April 20).