In an amazing coincidence, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will certainly note his 70th birthday celebration with a fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday, covering off his 4th objective to area, the firm stated in a launch.
Pettit, together with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will certainly bid goodbye to their orbital home of greater than 7 months when they undock from the International Spaceport Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. ET Saturday.
In this NASA handout, Exploration 72 team participants: NASA astronaut Don Pettit, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner, right, are seen in quarantine, behind glass, throughout an interview, September 10, 2024 a the Cosmonaut Resort in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Costs Ingalls/NASA/Getty Photos
The triad’s trip back to Planet is arranged to finish at 9:20 p.m. ET, NASA kept in mind. It will certainly finish in a parachute-assisted touchdown on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan, where healing groups will certainly be waiting to remove them from their pill.
Throughout their 220-day objective, the team circled around the Planet an amazing 3,520 times, taking a trip around 93.3 million miles.
The separation notes one more landmark for the team participants: Ovchinin ends his 4th spaceflight with 595 days in orbit. Vagner includes in his outstanding document with 416 collective days throughout 2 goals.
Prior to their separation, a modification of command event will certainly happen on Friday, with Ovchinin moving management of the spaceport station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, that will certainly regulate Exploration 73.
In this NASA handout, NASA astronaut Don Pettit is seen in quarantine, behind glass, throughout an interview, September 10, 2024 a the Cosmonaut Resort in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Costs Ingalls/NASA/Getty Photos
After goal, NASA kept in mind that the team will certainly be moved by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, they’ll split means– Pettit heading back to Houston while his Russian crewmates go back to their training base in Celebrity City, near Moscow.
The objective highlights the ongoing global teamwork aboard the ISS, which has actually preserved continual human visibility for over twenty years.
NASA’s launch additionally mentioned that the ISS continues to be an essential system for clinical research study and screening modern technologies for deep area expedition as the firm moves its emphasis towards enthusiastic Moon and Mars goals under the Artemis program.
NASA will certainly offer online insurance coverage of the team’s return trip on NASA+, beginning with Friday’s modification of command event and proceeding via Saturday’s touchdown.
