NASA’s Longest-Serving Astronaut Returns to Earth on His 70th Birthday: What Does This Mean for Space Photography?

There are many ways to celebrate a birthday, but few are as unique as how Don Pettit, NASA’s longest-serving astronaut, spent his 70th birthday. On Sunday, he finally returned to Earth after spending seven months aboard the International Space Station. While Pettit is safe and sound, the world will miss the unique perspective of one of space’s greatest photographers.

Landing in the Kazakh Steppe. After 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates, Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, landed on the plains of Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft.

The landing went smoothly without significant technical issues, despite a minor scare. Pettit required immediate medical attention after being extracted from the capsule. Cameras captured him in a virtually motionless state following the landing. The Russian space agency tends to publicly expose its crew instead of prioritizing the astronauts’ privacy, a common practice in the U.S. and China.

Is this the end of Pettit’s career? “When our capsule goes thump on those desert flats, I will be literally on the opposite side of Earth, nearly 12,000 miles from home. Yet, I will be home,” Pettit shared on social media from orbit shortly before his return. His words reflect on the meaning of “home” after spending seven months observing Earth from an altitude of 250 miles aboard the ISS.

This was Pettit’s fourth space mission, bringing his total time spent in space to 590 days. Despite being NASA’s longest-serving astronaut, he ranks only 14th in the list of people with the longest accumulated time away from Earth. With 48 active astronauts at NASA, this could be Pettit’s final mission in space.

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Farewell to the ISS photographer. The world will certainly miss Pettit’s extraordinary photography skills. The astronaut is among the best photographers to have visited the ISS. During his final mission, he once again captured stunning images.

The Milky Way and Starlink satellites: One of Pettit’s latest shots showcases the core of our galaxy and the zodiacal light, with the trails of Starlink satellites crossing the frame.

Reimagined earthscapes: Pettit used infrared filters and played with sun reflections to reveal hidden details of ocean currents and terrestrial geology, almost like a painting.

Atmospheric phenomena: Pettit captured northern lights during intense solar activity and contributed to studying the elusive transient luminous events, electrical discharges occurring over thunderstorms.

Long exposure: A master of long exposure photography, Pettit has created iconic images of star trails and transformed the nighttime lights of cities into rivers of light, enhanced by the orbital motion of the ISS.

More than just photography. Pettit was a trained chemical engineer and scientist before becoming an astronaut, and his creativity extends beyond photography. He invented a coffee cup designed for drinking without a straw, using the surface tension of liquid in microgravity. Additionally, he constructed a device using materials available aboard the ISS that compensates for the station’s motion, allowing for sharper nighttime photos of Earth.

He’s also known for his “science of opportunity” experiments, which he conducts in his spare time to demonstrate physical principles in microgravity. These include playing with electrostatically charged water droplets. He’s also frozen ice sheets to study their crystal formations using polarized filters in the ISS freezers.

With the return of Soyuz MS-26, Expedition 73 is now under the command of Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. He’s joined by NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, and Jonny Kim, along with Russian cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky.

Images | NASA | Don Pettit

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