NASA astronaut Don Pettit has safely returned to Earth after a 220-day mission to the International Space Station, marking the end of an extended crew rotation. Pettit, who is also the oldest active-duty astronaut at NASA, spent seven months in space with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.
The crew’s Soyuz MS-26/72S spacecraft undocked from the ISS on Saturday and landed safely in Kazakhstan, near the town of Dzhezkazgan. The Russian recovery crews and NASA personnel were deployed to assist the returning crew with initial medical checks and satellite phone calls to family and friends.
Pettit’s return marks the final chapter in an extended crew rotation that began with the launch of SpaceX Crew 10 commander Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on March 14. The crew will undergo further testing and rehabilitation at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The ISS has been facing several challenges, including air leaks in the Russian segment, uncertain funding, spare parts shortages, and resupply delays. According to Rich Williams, a member of the independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, “the ISS is entering its riskiest period” due to these issues.
NASA is also working on a plan to deorbit the space station by 2030 using a U.S. deorbit vehicle. The agency has hired SpaceX to build this capability, which will ensure the space station breaks up over the southern Pacific Ocean, far from shipping lanes and populated areas.
The ISS program faces a large budget shortfall, with NASA’s fiscal 2024 budget including nearly $1 billion for station operations and maintenance. Williams emphasized the importance of maintaining adequate budget and resources to ensure safe day-to-day operations and controlled deorbit within debris footprint requirements for public safety.
Despite these challenges, the ISS program has demonstrated operational excellence, but concerns about increasing risks attending the program over the next several years remain.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/don-pettit-nasa-cosmonauts-return-seven-months-space-station