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LEGENDActiveNASA
LEGENDActiveNASANASA·🇺🇸 United States·Born 1955
Don Pettit
Oldest active NASA astronaut to fly long-duration ISS missions (age 69-70 on Expedition 71/72)
1.6y
Years in Space
4
Missions
2
EVAs
13h
EVA Time
Science off the sphere — doing experiments in space is like Christmas morning every day.
Space is a frontier and frontiers shape the people that live on them.
I would do this even if I had to pay for it.
What they aspire to
He hopes his orbital photography and physics demonstrations make the wonder of spaceflight tangible to people who will never leave Earth.
Biography
Chemical engineer and one of NASA's most prolific science astronauts, known for inventing zero-gravity tools and viral physics demonstrations. Returned from his fourth mission in April 2025.
Before NASAChemical engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory researching reduced-gravity fluid physics and atmospheric science before joining NASA in 1996.
Records & Firsts
Notable accomplishments by Don Pettit
- Oldest active NASA astronaut to fly long-duration ISS missions (age 69-70 on Expedition 71/72)
- Inventor of the 'zero-g coffee cup'
Mission Timeline
- Flight Engineer
Soyuz MS-26
Expedition 71/72
Launch: Sep 11, 2024Landing: Apr 19, 2025Duration: 220 days- Returned home on his 70th birthday
Beyond the Mission
Hobbies & Interests
astrophotographytinkering and inventingamateur science demonstrationswoodworking
Causes They Champion
Public science communicationSTEM outreach through orbital photography and demos
Languages
EnglishRussian
Awards & Honors
- NASA Space Flight Medal
- NASA Exceptional Service Medal
- NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Fun fact
He invented the zero-gravity coffee cup — a wedge-shaped vessel that uses capillary action so astronauts can sip espresso instead of slurping it from a bag — and became NASA's first patent holder for an invention made in space.
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