India, April 20 -- NASA astronaut Don Pettit's 70th birthday was not an ordinary one since he returned to Earth after concluding his seven-month science mission aboard the International Space Station

Don Pettit, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, returned to the planet on Saturday.

Spanning 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates orbited the Earth 3,520 times, completing a journey of 93.3 million miles. Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner launched and docked to the orbiting laboratory on Sept. 11, 2024.

During his time aboard the space station, Pettit conducted research to enhance in-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitization technologies, explore plant growth under varying water con...