A space homecoming is coming soon as NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two Russian cosmonauts wrap up a 220-day orbital mission aboard the International Space Station.
The trio will land in Kazakhstan on Pettit’s 70th birthday, after circling the Earth over 3,500 times and clocking millions of miles. Their return marks a significant milestone for each crew member’s spaceflight legacy. As they depart, a new commander steps in, and NASA continues shifting its focus toward deep space and Mars, while commercial partners pick up the torch in low Earth orbit.
NASA Crew Prepares for Earthbound Return
NASA astronaut Don Pettit, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, is set to return to Earth from the International Space Station on Saturday, April 19. The crew will travel aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft.
The trio will undock from the station’s Rassvet module at 5:57 p.m. EDT, beginning their journey home. They are scheduled to land by parachute at 9:20 p.m. EDT (6:20 a.m. local time in Kazakhstan on Sunday, April 20), on the steppe southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan. The landing will coincide with Pettit’s 70th birthday.
NASA will provide live coverage of the return and related events on its NASA+ streaming platform.
Mission Stats: Orbits, Distance, and Duration
Spanning 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates will have orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission. The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft launched and docked to the station on Sept. 11, 2024.
This was Pettit’s fourth spaceflight, where he served as flight engineer for Expedition 71 and 72. He has a career total of 590 days in orbit. Ovchinin completed his fourth flight in space, totaling 595 days, and Vagner has earned an overall total of 416 days in space during two trips to the orbiting laboratory.
Return to Earth and Recovery Plans
After returning to Earth, the three crew members will fly on a helicopter from the landing site to the recovery staging city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Pettit will board a NASA plane and return to Houston, while Ovchinin and Vagner will depart for a training base in Star City, Russia.
NASA’s coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to changed based on real-time operations):
Saturday, April 19:
2 p.m. – Farewells and hatch closing coverage begins on NASA+.
2:25 p.m. – Hatch closing
5:30 p.m. – Undocking coverage begins on NASA+.
5:57 p.m. – Undocking
8 p.m. – Coverage begins for deorbit burn, entry, and landing on NASA+.
8:26 p.m. – Deorbit burn
9:20 p.m. – Landing
The International Space Station (ISS) has been continuously inhabited for over 20 years, serving as a unique orbiting laboratory where astronauts conduct scientific research that can’t be done on Earth. It plays a vital role in helping NASA study the effects of long-duration spaceflight, paving the way for future missions deeper into space. The ISS also supports the growth of commercial space activity in low Earth orbit, while NASA shifts more of its focus toward the Moon and Mars through its Artemis program.
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