Landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan coincides with the 70th birthday of the American astronaut Donald Petit.
Russian astronauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner have returned to Earth together with the American Donald Petit after a seven -month scientific mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The Russian Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft transported the trio was touched southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 6:20 am (01:20 GMT) on Sunday, the landing confirmed by NASA and Russia of the United States.
The moment of his return to the parachute to the Earth coincided with the 70th birthday of the United States astronaut, NASA said on the social media platform X.
Happy Birthday, @Astro_pettit! Many happy returns (including this) 🥳
The MS-26 Soyuz spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan at 9:20 pm ET-O, at the local time, 6:20 am April 20, Pettit’s 70th birthday. pic.twitter.com/qfm5faxna0
– NASA (@NASA) April 20, 2025
NASA said the crew was transferred to a recovery preparation area in the city of Karaganda, Adjs that Pettit was fine.
The crew arrived at the ISS Orbiting laboratory on September 11, 2024, spending 220 days in space during which they orbital the land 3,520 times, completing a trip or 93.3 million miles (150.15 million km), NASA said in a statement.
Pettit spent his time investigating “3D metal printing capabilities in orbit” and “water disinfection technologies” while exploring the growth of plants and fire behavior in space.
This was Pettit’s fourth space flight, with a total of 590 days in orbit registered through his career. Ovchinin has achieved 595 days in space during four flights, while Wagner has reached a total of 416 days during two flights.
Space exploration has remained a rare route of cooperation between the United States and Russia since the letter unleashed its war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Earlier this month, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft took Jonathan Kim from the United States.
However, the United States and other Western countries ceased other associations with Roscosmos as part of a series of sanctions imposed on Russia during the war.
Astronauts, who are trained and certified by NASA and others such as the European Space Agency, are known as Cosmonauts when they represent Roscosmos.