NASA’s most senior astronaut returns to Earth with two cosmonauts
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On the eve of his seventieth birthday, Don Pettit, NASA’s oldest active-duty astronaut, and two cosmonaut crewmates packed up for a fiery plunge again to Earth to shut out a 220-day expedition to the Worldwide House Station.
Pettit, Soyuz MS-26/72S commander Alexey Ovchinin and flight engineer Ivan Vagner deliberate to undock from the house station at 5:57 p.m. EDT Saturday, establishing a touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan close to the city of Dzhezkazgan three-and-half hours later at 9:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. Sunday — Pettit’s birthday — native time).
The Soyuz MS-26/72S spacecraft is seen docked to the Russian Rassvet module. The ship’s crew — Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and NASA’s Don Pettit — deliberate to undock and return to Earth Saturday night time (U.S. time), touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan early Sunday (native time) to wrap up a seven-month mission. / Credit score: NASA
Russian restoration crews and NASA personnel have been deployed close by to assist the returning crew out of the Soyuz descent module with preliminary medical checks and satellite tv for pc telephone calls to household and mates as they start their re-adjustment to gravity after seven months in weightlessness.
Assuming an on-time touchdown, mission period will stand at 220 days and almost 9 hours, spanning 3,520 orbits and 93.3 million miles since launch last Sept. 11 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
At landing, Ovchinin could have logged 595 days in house over 4 flights, adopted intently by Pettit, whose whole will stand at 590 days over 4 flights of his personal. Vagner’s whole can be 416 days aloft throughout two house station visits.
The world document for many cumulative time in house is held by cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who spent almost 1,111 days in orbit over 5 missions. The U.S. document is held by astronaut Peggy Whitson. She spent 675 days in house over 4 flights.
Don Pettit, NASA’s oldest lively astronaut, will rejoice his seventieth birthday with touchdown in Kazakhstan. / Credit score: NASA
As for Pettit’s age, John Glenn, the primary American in orbit, was 77 when he flew aboard the house shuttle in 1988 as a NASA spaceflight participant. He holds the document because the oldest particular person to fly in orbit.
From Kazakhstan, Ovchinin and Vagner will head again to Star Metropolis close to Moscow whereas Pettit can be flown to the Johnson House Heart in Houston for extra detailed exams and start his bodily rehabilitation.
The trio’s return to Earth marked the ultimate chapter in an prolonged crew rotation that started with launch of SpaceX Crew 10 commander Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on March 14.
Crew 10’s arrival on the station cleared the way in which for Crew 9 commander Nick Hague, cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams to return to Earth four days later.
The Russians then launched replacements for Pettit’s crew — Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and NASA’s Jonny Kim — on April 8, clearing the way in which for Ovchinin, Vagner and Pettit to return to Earth Saturday.
Throughout a change-of-command ceremony Friday, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, far proper, takes over from outgoing commander Alexey Ovchinin, far left. Wearing purple shirts, Ovchinin, Don Pettit (second from left) and Ivan Vagner plan to return to Earth Saturday (U.S. time) with a touchdown in Kazakhstan. / Credit score: NASA
In a short ceremony Friday, Ovchinin turned command of the station over to Onishi.
“It is an important honor for me to simply accept the command of the ISS,” Onishi stated. “I really feel so particular that I’m taking up the command from you as a result of it has been nearly 9 years since we met right here in 2016 throughout Expedition 48. At the moment, each of us have been rookies and right here we’re two veterans who’re ISS commanders.”
“Human house flight shouldn’t be straightforward. Solely steady dedication from era to era made it attainable for human beings to get right here. Now right this moment, we have now 4 rookies (on board). I am certain at some point they are going to come again and develop into commanders … that is how we’ll proceed to develop human house flight,” Onishi stated.
The ISS has been repeatedly staffed by rotating crews since Oct. 31, 2000. Scheduled for retirement in 5 years, the lab is going through issues on a number of fronts, starting from air leaks within the Russian phase to unsure funding, spare components shortages and resupply delays.
“Spaceflight is troublesome and really dangerous,” Wealthy Williams, a member of the impartial Aerospace Security Advisory Panel, informed the group in a public assembly Thursday. “The ISS has entered the riskiest interval of its existence.”
“The ISS administration, crew and assist personnel at all times make spaceflight look straightforward. Spaceflight is something however straightforward, and the rising dangers attending the ISS program are making it tougher,” Williams stated.
The air leaks within the Zvezda module’s aft docking compartment are presumably the outcomes of metallic fatigue and repeated stress cycles as visiting Soyuz crew ships and Progress cargo freighters come and go.
Pettit is broadly admired as an achieved photographer, spending a lot of his spare time aboard the Worldwide House Station photographing astronomical phenomena, auroral shows and life aboard the orbiting lab complicated. On this shot, a time publicity captures metropolis lights throughout Southeast Asia and the inexperienced glow from off-shore fishing boats. / Credit score: NASA
“Main danger mitigation actions at this level embrace software and patching supplies to identified cracks and limiting … pressurization cycles to attempt to restrict stress and fatigue,” Williams stated. “The ISS program is monitoring this intently, and the panel considers this one in all our highest considerations.”
NASA has employed SpaceX to construct a U.S. deorbit automobile, or USDV, to drive the million-pound house station again into the environment in 2030 to make sure it breaks up over the southern Pacific Ocean, removed from delivery lanes and populated areas. The USDV is anticipated to reach on the lab in 2029.
“Delivering and using this USDV functionality is crucial to making sure that the deorbit particles danger meets the established authorities public security requirements,” Williams stated. “If there’s a deorbit of the ISS earlier than the USDV is delivered, the danger to the general public from ISS breakup particles will improve by orders of magnitude.”
He stated NASA and Russian house officers are working “to deal with the challenges related to reaching a secure deorbit functionality, each for end-of-life in addition to a risk-managed deorbit for contingencies.”
The main downside going through the ISS is what Williams known as “a big ISS funds shortfall.” NASA’s fiscal 2024 funds included almost $1 billion for station operations and upkeep with one other $1.6 billion earmarked for crew launches and resupply missions.
“It’s crucial to take care of enough funds and assets till the automobile has safely reentered, not solely to guarantee security of day-to-day operations in a high-risk surroundings, but in addition to make sure managed, secure deorbit inside particles footprint necessities for the sake of public security,” Williams stated.
In abstract, he stated, “the panel appreciates the demonstrated operational excellence of the ISS program, however stays deeply involved in regards to the rising and cascading dangers attending this system over the subsequent a number of years.”
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