NASA astronaut and chemical engineering alum returns to Earth

On April 21, University of Arizona alum and NASA astronaut Don Pettit safely landed in Kazakhstan, concluding the fourth spaceflight of his long and distinguished career. At the age of 70, Pettit is NASA's oldest active astronaut and his most recent seven-month-long mission to the International Space Station brought his total time in orbit to 590 days.

Pettit earned a PhD in chemical engineering from U of A in 1983 and worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1984 to 1996. He joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1996 and made his first spaceflight to the ISS in 2002. Pettit flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2008 and returned to the ISS in 2011. During his next-to-last trip to the ISS, Pettit participated in the capture of the SpaceX Dragon, helping pave the way for commercial resupply missions to the ISS.

"Houston Station, we've got us a dragon by the tail," Pettit said upon capture of the SpaceX Dragon.

During his time as a NASA astronaut, Pettit has built equipment that allowed photography of Earth's surface from the ISS and designed a cup to make drinking in microgravity easier.

Pettit has also been active in education and public outreach, producing a popular video series titled Saturday Morning Science.