NASA’s longest -lived astronaut has returned to the land in his 70th birthday. We are left without the best space photographer

There are ways and ways to celebrate a birthday, but few like Don Petit’s. He NASA’s longest active astronaut He returned to Earth after seven months at the International Space Station just the day he turned 70. A bittersweet milestone because, although it is healthy and safe, we lose the unique perspective of one of the best photographers of space.

Delicated landing in the kazaja steppe. 220 days after its launch aboard the Soyuz MS-26 Russian capsule landed on the plains of Kazakhstan Together with his crew companions, the Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin (53 years old) and Ivan Vagner (39 years old).

The landing occurred without technical setbacks, although with a small scare: Pettit needed immediate medical attention when extracted from the capsule. The cameras captured him practically motionless after landingwhich revived the debate on the Russian practice to expose the crew instead of prioritizing its intimacy, as is done in the United States and China.

70th birthday, and farewell? “When our capsule lands on those desert plains, I will be literally on the other side of the earth, almost 19,000 kilometers from home. However, I will be at home,” Don Pettit wrote from the orbit shortly before returning. A reflection that puts in perspective what ‘home’ means after seven months seeing the earth 400 km high, from the International Space Station.

This has been the fourth space mission for Petit, which accumulates a total of 590 days in space. Despite being NASA’s longest astronaut, it is only the tenth human being that accumulates more time outside the earth. With 48 active astronauts in the space agencythe last incorporated in 2022, it should be thought that this could be its last mission to space.

Goodbye to the ISS photographer. If we will miss this astronaut is his extraordinary ability for photography. Pettit is one of the best photographers who have gone through the ISS and during this last mission, he has given us spectacular images again:

The dairy and Starlinks: one of its last captures shows the core of our galaxy and zodiac light, with Starlink satellitous steles crossing in the frame

Reimaginated terrestrial landscapes: using infrared filters or playing with the reflection of the sun, Petit reveals hidden details of oceanic currents or terrestrial geology with an almost pictorial quality

Atmospheric phenomena: captured impressive northern lights during the intense new year solar activity and contributed to the study of elusive “transient light events” (Tles), electric discharges on storms

Long exhibition: Master of this technique, has created iconic images of stars steles or the night lights of cities turned into rivers of light by the Iss orbital movement

More than photos. Chemical Training and Scientific Engineer rather than Astronaut, Pettit’s creativity is not limited to photography .. invented A cup of coffee to drink without straw taking advantage of the surface tension of the microgravity fluid. And a device that compensates for the movement of the International Space Station to obtain more clear nightcare photos on Earth.

It is also Famous for his “Opportunity Science”small experiments carried out in their free time to demonstrate physical principles in microgravity. To play with drops of water charged electrostátically to freeze ice sheets To study their crystals with polarized filters in the freezers of the station.

With the return of Soyuz MS-26, expedition 73 is under the command of Japanese Takuya Onishi. He is accompanied by NASA Astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers and Jonny Kim, and Russian cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.

In Xataka | The best photos from the International Space Station are made by the same astronaut: Don Pettit