NASA astronaut Don Pettit to return from ISS on 70th birthday

In a remarkable coincidence, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will mark his 70th birthday with a fiery reentry through Earth's atmosphere on Saturday, capping off his fourth mission to space, the agency said in a release.

Pettit, along with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will bid farewell to their orbital home of more than seven months when they undock from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. ET Saturday.

The trio's journey back to Earth is scheduled to end at 9:20 p.m. ET, NASA noted. It will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan, where recovery teams will be waiting to extract them from their capsule.

During their 220-day mission, the crew circled the Earth an astounding 3,520 times, traveling approximately 93.3 million miles.

The departure marks another milestone for the crew members: Ovchinin concludes his fourth spaceflight with 595 days in orbit. Vagner adds to his impressive record with 416 cumulative days across two missions.

Before their departure, a change of command ceremony will take place on Friday, with Ovchinin transferring leadership of the space station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, who will command Expedition 73.

After touchdown, NASA noted that the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, they'll part ways -- Pettit heading back to Houston while his Russian crewmates return to their training base in Star City, near Moscow.

The mission highlights the continuing international cooperation aboard the ISS, which has maintained continuous human presence for over two decades.

NASA's release also stated that the ISS remains a crucial platform for scientific research and testing technologies for deep space exploration as the agency shifts its focus toward ambitious Moon and Mars missions under the Artemis program.

NASA will provide live coverage of the crew's return journey on NASA+, starting with Friday's change of command ceremony and continuing through Saturday's landing.