Latest news with #SoyuzMS-26
Kuwait Times
21-05-2025
- Science
- Kuwait Times
NASA's oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday
This hanodut picture courtesy of NASA shows the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 72 NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard.--AFP photos Cake, gifts and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday. But NASA's oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the day of Pettit's milestone birthday. 'Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan,' Russia's space agency Roscosmos said. Spending 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission. This hanodut picture shows Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner (center) being carried to a medical tent shortly after he, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner landed in their Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. This hanodut picture shows the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan. This hanodut picture courtesy of NASA shows Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (center) outside the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft after he landed with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit throughout his 29-year career. The trio touched down in a remote area southeast of Kazakhstan after undocking from the space station just over three hours earlier. NASA images of the landing showed the small capsule parachuting down to Earth with the sunrise as a backdrop. The astronauts gave thumbs-up gestures as rescuers carried them from the spacecraft to an inflatable medical tent. Despite looking a little worse for wear as he was pulled from the vessel, Pettit was 'doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth,' NASA said in a statement. He was then set to fly to the Kazakh city of Karaganda before boarding a NASA plane to the agency's Johnson Space Center in Texas. The astronauts spent their time on the ISS researching areas such as water sanitization technology, plant growth in various conditions and fire behavior in microgravity, NASA said. The trio's seven-month trip was just short of the nine months that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unexpectedly spent stuck on the orbital lab after the spacecraft they were testing suffered technical issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth. Space is one of the final areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine conflict.—AFP
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
At Houston event, NASA astronauts will discuss their recent space station missions
May 20 (UPI) -- Four NASA astronauts who recently returned to Earth from a mission aboard the International Space Station will take part this week in a welcome-home ceremony at NASA's space center in Texas. On Thursday, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Don Pettit will be in Houston to participate in ceremonies to welcome them back to Earth and will share highlights from their recent space mission, according to NASA officials. Williams and Wilmore arrived after being stranded on the orbital laboratory for nine months. Hague, Wilmore, Williams and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov returned to Earth on March 18 when their craft splashed safely off the western coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico after they spent months on the ISS, where people have continuously worked and lived for about 25 years now. Petit, who launched on September 11 aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts, spent seven months in space on a research mission as a flight engineer and returned on April 19 -- his 70th birthday -- in Kazakhstan to Russia's southwest after he spent 590 days in orbit. Williams and Wilmore traveled more than 121 million miles during their mission and spent 286 days in space with 4,576 completed orbits around Earth and logged hundreds of extra hours in space. Hague and Gorbunov, who traveled over 72 million miles during their mission, spent 171 days in orbit. The free, public event at Space Center Houston will begin at 6 p.m. local time, during which the space travelers will recognize "key mission contributors" during an award ceremony following the presentation.
UPI
20-05-2025
- Science
- UPI
At Houston event, NASA astronauts will discuss their recent space station missions
NASA astronauts (L-R) Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague and Don Pettit show off their "Proud to be American" socks in a photo taken aboard the International Space Station. The four will take part in a welcome-home ceremony Thursday at NASA's space center in Houston. Photo by NASA May 20 (UPI) -- Four NASA astronauts who recently returned to Earth from a mission aboard the International Space Station will take part this week in a welcome-home ceremony at NASA's space center in Texas. On Thursday, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore and Don Pettit will be in Houston to participate in ceremonies to welcome them back to Earth and will share highlights from their recent space mission, according to NASA officials. Williams and Wilmore arrived after being stranded on the orbital laboratory for nine months. Hague, Wilmore, Williams and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov returned to Earth on March 18 when their craft splashed safely off the western coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico after they spent months on the ISS, where people have continuously worked and lived for about 25 years now. Petit, who launched on September 11 aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts, spent seven months in space on a research mission as a flight engineer and returned on April 19 -- his 70th birthday -- in Kazakhstan to Russia's southwest after he spent 590 days in orbit. Williams and Wilmore traveled more than 121 million miles during their mission and spent 286 days in space with 4,576 completed orbits around Earth and logged hundreds of extra hours in space. Hague and Gorbunov, who traveled over 72 million miles during their mission, spent 171 days in orbit. The free, public event at Space Center Houston will begin at 6 p.m. local time, during which the space travelers will recognize "key mission contributors" during an award ceremony following the presentation.
New York Post
29-04-2025
- Science
- New York Post
NASA's oldest astronaut felt the decades melt away in space before returning on his 70th birthday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Fresh from space, NASA's oldest full-time astronaut said Monday that weightlessness made him feel decades younger, with everyday aches and pains vanishing. Don Pettit marked his 70th birthday on April 20 by plunging through the atmosphere in a Russian Soyuz capsule to wrap up a seven-month mission at the International Space Station. In his first public remarks since touchdown, Pettit said he threw up all over the Kazak steppes upon touchdown, the result of feeling gravity for the first time in 220 days. 6 NASA astronaut Don Pettit getting carried to a medical tent after he and other crew members landed the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on April 20, 2025. Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP 6 Pettit boarding a plane to travel back to Houston. NASA/Bill Ingalls Returning to Earth has always been 'a significant challenge' for his body, Pettit said from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. 'I didn't look too good because I didn't feel too good,' he said, adding that his body's normal 'creaks and groans' returned. In weightlessness, on the other hand, Pettit felt the decades melt away. 'It makes me feel like I'm 30 years old again,' said Pettit, an astronaut since 1996 who ventured to space four times. 'All that kind of stuff heals up because you're sleeping, you're just floating and your body, all these little aches and pains and everything heal up.' 6 Pettit, 70, is NASA's oldest astronaut. NASA / SWNS 6 Pettit seen aboard the International Space Station in 2024. NASA / SWNS Mercury astronaut John Glenn was 77 when he returned to orbit on a short shuttle flight in 1998. But he'd been gone from NASA for decades and was close to wrapping up his Senate career. Even a pair of 90-year-olds have flown to space, but only on 10-minute up-and-down hops by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket company. Pettit, an engineer who still feels 'like a little kid inside,' focused on his astrophotography while at the space station, capturing auroras, comets and satellites streaking off in the distance. 6 The Soyuz MS-26 space capsule carrying the ISS crew descending back to Earth on April 20, 2025. via REUTERS 6 The Soyuz MS-26 space capsule landing in Kazakhstan. via REUTERS He also conducted a slew of physics experiments in his spare time, like blowing and stacking bubbles, and forming a perfect ball of honey on a spoon with peanut butter, in order to share the experience with others. 'I've got a few more good years left,' Pettit said. 'I could see getting another flight or two in before I'm ready to hang up my rocket nozzles.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
China steps up space race with another successful rocket launch
China has launched three astronauts into space on Thursday, marking a further step in the country's ambitions for a crewed mission to the Moon and explore Mars. The Shenzhou 20 spaceship was launched as planned atop China's workhorse Long March 2F rocket at 17:17 local time. It was set to reach the Tiangong space station about 6.5 hours later. The rocket lifted off from the launch centre in Jiuquan, on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. The ship will remain in space before returning the current crew. While in space, the astronauts will conduct experiments in medical science and new technologies and perform space walks to carry out maintenance and install new equipment, the Manned Space Agency said. Related Europe's defence sector bets on space amid growing geopolitical threats Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft carrying Expedition 72 crew lands in Kazakhstan The Tiangong, or 'Heavenly Palace', space station has made China a major contender in space, providing an entirely Chinese-built platform after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over US national security concerns. China's space programme is controlled by the People's Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party. The addition of mechanical arms to the three-module station has raised concerns from other powers that China could use them to disable satellites or other space vehicles during a crisis.
