POT

Don Pettit, the oldest active service astronaut of the NASA, celebrated his 70th birthday with two cosmonaut teammates during Saturday night, discouraged from the International Space Station and returning to Earth in a glow of Heat Reintery to close a 220 -day expedition.

Pettit, Soyuz MS-26/72S, Alexey Ovchinin, and flight engineer Ivan Vagner discredited Russian Rassvet module at 5:57 pm edt, establishing an landing assisted by parachute the landing the landing of the steppe of Kazakstan’s pass near the city of Dzhezkazkan at 9:20 pm EDT-6: 20 Paso de la Esteaza, the time of Pettit’s petits.

The Russian recovery teams and NASA staff rushed to the spacecraft, opened the upper hatch and helped take the crew members who return to the nearby recliners where the flight surgeons carried out initial health controls.

Ovchinin and Vagner seemed to be in a good mood, smiling, chatting with support equipment and enjoying drinks and snacks. Pettit, however, seemed disoriented when he was taken from the descent module, letting his head go back and closed his eyes when he was transferred to his recliner. It was not seen again in the video of the landing site.

But there were no indications of any type of important, doctor or other problem. From Kazakhstan, Ovchinin and Vagner will return to Star City, near Moscow, while Pettit will be transferred to Houston and the Johnson Space Center for more detailed tests and the beginning of physical rehabilitation.

In an interview of April 16 with Koin-TV in Portland, Oregon, Pettit said he had more difficulties than most returning to gravity after a long stay in space.

“The first thing I am going to do when I get to Earth is probably emptying the content of my stomach,” he said, causing laughter. “It is something physiological, it affects different people in different ways. Some people can land and leave and eat pizza and dance. When I land, it takes me 24 hours to feel that I am a human being again.”

With the landing on time, the duration of the mission remained at 220 days and almost nine hours, covered by 3,520 orbits and 93.3 million miles Since its launch on September 11 Of the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Ovchinin has now registered 595 days in space during four flights, closely followed by Petit, whose total is 590 days during four flights. The total vagner after two visits to the station is located 416 days.

The world record of most of the cumulative time in space is maintained by Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenkowhich passed almost 1,111 days in orbit in five missions. The American registration is in the hands of astronaut Peggy Whitson. He spent 675 days in space during four flights.

As for the age of Pettit, John Glenn, the first American in orbit, was 77 years old when he flew aboard the space ferry in 1998 as a participant of NASA’s spatial flights. He has the record as the oldest person to fly in orbit.

The return of the soy crew to the Earth marked the final chapter in an extended rotation of the crew that began with Spacex Crew 10 launch Commander Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on March 14.

The arrival of crew 10 to the station cleared the way for the commander of the crew 9 Nick Hague, the cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, the commander of Starliner Barry “Butch” Wilmore and the pilot Sunita Williams to Return to Earth four days later.

The Russians then launched replacements for Pettit crew – Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and Jonny Kim from NASA – on April 8, clearing the way for Ovchinin, Vagner and Petit to return to Earth on Saturday.

In a brief ceremony on Friday, Ovchinin converted command of the station to Onishi.

“It is a great honor for me to accept the command of the ISS,” said Onishi. “I feel so special that I am taking care of you because almost nine years have passed since we met here in 2016 during expedition 48. At that time, we were both rookies and here we are two veterans who are commanders of the ISS.”

“The human space flight is not easy. Only the continuous dedication from generation to generation made it possible for human beings to arrive here. Now today, we have four rookies (on board). I am sure that one day they will return and become commanders … This is how we will continue to develop a human space flight,” said Onishi.

The ISS has been continuously attended by rotating crews since November 2, 2000. Programmed for retirement in five years, the laboratory faces problems on multiple fronts, ranging from air leaks in the Russian segment to uncertain funds, shortage of spare parts and resupplio withdrawals.

“Spacelllight is difficult and very risky,” said Rich Williams, a member of the NASA independent Aerospace Security Advisory Panel, said the group at a public meeting on Thursday. “The ISS has entered the most risky period of its existence.”

“The ISS management, the crew and support staff always make the space flight easy. The space flight is anything but easy, and the growing risks attending the ISS program are making it more difficult,” said Williams.

The air leaks in the AFT coupling compartment of the Zvezda module are presumably the results of metal fatigue and repeated pressure cycles, since they visit the ships of the soy crew and the load loaders of progress that come and go.

“Primary risk mitigation activities at this point include application and patch materials to known and limiting cracks … pressurization cycles to try to limit stress and fatigue,” said Williams. “The ISS program is monitoring this closely, and the panel considers this of our highest concerns.”

NASA has hired Spacex to build an American Deorbit vehicle, or USDV, to carry the space station of millions of pounds to the atmosphere in 2030 to ensure that it is broken on the South Pacific Ocean, far from the shipping lanes and populated areas. The USDV is expected to reach the laboratory in 2029.

“The delivery and use of this USDV’s capacity is essential to ensure that Deorbit’s risk complies with established public security standards of the government,” said Williams. “If there is an ISS exorbit before the USDV is delivered, the risk for the public of the ISS rupture debris will increase by magnitude orders.”

He said that NASA and Russian space officials are working “to address the challenges associated with the achievement of a safe Deorbit’s ability, both for the end of life and for a Deorbit administered by the risk for contingencies.”

The main problem facing ISS is what Williams called “a great budget deficit of ISS.” NASA’s tax budget 2024 included almost $ 1 billion for operations and maintenance of the station with another $ 1.6 billion for crew and resupping missions.

“It is essential to maintain an adequate budget and resources until the vehicle has re -entered safely, not only to guarantee the safety of daily operations in a high -risk environment, but also to guarantee controlled and safe exorbit within the debris footprint requirements for the sake of public safety,” said Williams.

In summary, he said, “the panel appreciates the demonstrated operational excellence of the ISS program, but remains deeply concerned about increasing and waterfall risks to attend the program in the coming years.”

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