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| Oldest serving US astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday | Oldest serving US astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| Don Pettit has now spent a total of 590 days in space during his four missions | Don Pettit has now spent a total of 590 days in space during his four missions |
| America's oldest serving astronaut Dan Pettit has returned to Earth on his 70th birthday. | America's oldest serving astronaut Dan Pettit has returned to Earth on his 70th birthday. |
| The Soyuz MS-26 space capsule carrying Pettit and his Russian crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner made a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan's steppe at 06:20 local time (01:20 GMT) on Sunday. | |
| They spent 220 days on board the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth 3,520 times, the US space agency Nasa said. | They spent 220 days on board the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth 3,520 times, the US space agency Nasa said. |
| For Pettit - who has now spent a total of 590 days in space - it was his fourth mission. | For Pettit - who has now spent a total of 590 days in space - it was his fourth mission. |
| Still, he is not the oldest person to fly in orbit - that record belongs to John Glenn, who aged 77 flew on a Nasa mission in 1998. He died in 2016. | Still, he is not the oldest person to fly in orbit - that record belongs to John Glenn, who aged 77 flew on a Nasa mission in 1998. He died in 2016. |
| Pettit and the two Russian cosmonauts will now spend some time readjusting to gravity. | Pettit and the two Russian cosmonauts will now spend some time readjusting to gravity. |
| After that, Pettit - who was born in Oregon on 20 April 1955 - will be flown to Houston in Texas, while Ovchinin and Vagner will go to Russia's main space training base in Zvyozdniy Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow. | After that, Pettit - who was born in Oregon on 20 April 1955 - will be flown to Houston in Texas, while Ovchinin and Vagner will go to Russia's main space training base in Zvyozdniy Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow. |
| Before their departure from the ISS, the crew handed command of the spaceship to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. | Before their departure from the ISS, the crew handed command of the spaceship to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. |
| The Soyuz MS-26 capsule landed in remote steppe in Kazakhstan | |
| Last month, two Nasa astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, finally returned to Earth after spending more than nine months on board the ISS - instead of the initially planned just eight days. | Last month, two Nasa astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, finally returned to Earth after spending more than nine months on board the ISS - instead of the initially planned just eight days. |
| They flew to the ISS in June 2024 - but technical issues with the spacecraft they used to get to the space station meant they were only able to return to Earth on 18 March this year. | They flew to the ISS in June 2024 - but technical issues with the spacecraft they used to get to the space station meant they were only able to return to Earth on 18 March this year. |