NASA’s Don Pettit, two cosmonaut crewmates, wrap up seven-month space station visit

On the eve of his 70th birthday, NASA’s oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, along with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, prepared to return to Earth after a 220-day mission aboard the International Space Station, undocking at 5:57 p.m. EDT and landing in Kazakhstan at 9:20 p.m. EDT. Following their return, initial medical checks were conducted, with Pettit set to undergo rehabilitation in Houston while Ovchinin and Vagner returned to Star City near Moscow. This mission concluded an extended crew rotation that has maintained continuous ISS staffing since October 2000, amidst ongoing challenges facing the space station.