Longest-serving American astronaut celebrates 70th birthday after returning to Earth

Dan Pettit, America’s longest-serving astronaut, celebrated his 70th birthday by returning to Earth. He, along with Russian crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, arrived via the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft and landed in Kazakhstan’s steppe at 6:20 AM local time (1:20 AM GMT). The three spent 220 days onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and orbited the Earth 3,520 times during their stay, according to NASA. Pettit completed his fourth mission, with a total of 590 days spent in space. Although he is not the oldest person to fly in orbit, this record belongs to John Glenn, who flew on a NASA mission in 1998 at the age of 77. Pettit, born in Oregon, will travel to Houston, Texas, while Ovchinin and Vagner will go to Russia’s main space training base, Star City, near Moscow, for their readjustment to gravity. Before they departed from the ISS, the crew transferred command of the spacecraft to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx1g0q43gqo