NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two cosmonaut colleagues will return to Earth this evening (April 19), and you can watch their homecoming live.
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Pettit, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) today at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT). It will touch down on the steppe of Kazakhstan about 3.5 hours later at around 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT and 6:20 a.m. local Kazakh time on April 20).
You can watch the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency.
The departure webcast, however, will actually begin today at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), to cover farewells and the closing of hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS, which is expected to occur at 2:25 p.m. EDT (1825 GMT).
Coverage will pick up again at 5:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) ahead of undocking and then again at 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT on April 20) for the Soyuz’s deorbit burn, entry, descent and landing.
Pettit, Ovchinin and Vagner launched to the ISS on Sept. 11, 2024. The trio have spent 220 days in space on this mission, which is the fourth flight for Pettit and Ovchinin and the second for Vagner.
Pettit’s return to Earth is a bit of a bummer for space fans, who will soon be deprived of a source of enjoyment. The astronaut is renowned for his stunning and creative off-Earth photography, which he frequently shares with the public via social media.
Pettit is the oldest active member of NASA’s astronaut corps. He turns 70 on April 20, meaning he can celebrate a pretty epic birthday after touching down in Kazakhstan (even though it will still be April 19 at that point in his home country).
