Donald Pettit

Donald Roy Pettit is an American astronaut and chemical engineer best known for his orbital astrophotography and in-space inventions such as the Zero G Cup, which received the first ever patent for an object invented in space. He is a veteran of three long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission, and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2025, at age 70, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut and the third oldest person to reach orbit, behind John Glenn and Larry Connor. He has accumulated 590 days in space.

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1955  Wikimedia, Wikidata
Don Pettit; Donald R. Pettit; Donald Roy Pettit
astronaut, engineer, chemist, 

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• 

  Soyuz MS-26 ⓘ
  Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

• 

  Soyuz TMA-03M ⓘ
  2011 Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

• 

  Soyuz TMA-1 ⓘ
  crewed spaceflight to the International Space Station

• 

  STS-113 ⓘ
  human spaceflight

• 

  STS-126 ⓘ
  human spaceflight

• 

  Expedition 72 ⓘ
  72nd long-duration mission to the International Space Station

• 

  Expedition 6 ⓘ
  6th expedition to the International Space Station

• 

  Expedition 30 ⓘ
  Long-duration mission to the International Space Station

• 

  Expedition 31 ⓘ
  expedition to the International Space Station

United States, 

1955-04-20T00:00:00Z

1955-04-20T00:00:00Z

1955 Donald Pettit

2002-11-25T00:00:00Z

2003-05-03T00:00:00Z

2002 — 2003 Expedition 6

2011-11-21T00:00:00Z

2012-04-27T00:00:00Z

2011 — 2012 Expedition 30

2012-04-27T00:00:00Z

2012-07-01T00:00:00Z

2012 Expedition 31

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Frameless

DonaldPettit

Expedition 31 crew portrait

Expedition 72 Crew Poster

Iss072-s-002

ISS Expedition 6 crew

Orion Crew Module at Kennedy Space Center

STS-126 FD3a

STS113-335-033 - STS-113 - Flight Deck (FD) views of Wetherbee and Pettit for STS-113 - DPLA - 193ccb94c141d839206889f9d46239b8

STS113-342-017 - STS-113 - STS-113, Expedition Five, Expedition Six in-flight crew portraits taken in the U.S. Laboratory - DPLA - 637da66d6903c5608bb2db9cdcebfc13

S113E05244 - STS-113 - Expedition Six Crewmembers In-flight Crew Portrait taken in the U.S. Laboratory during STS-113 (11A) - DPLA - 9846fc9937510e62a391627aad75a8da

Type	Subtype	Date	Description	Notes	Source
class	orbit		Soyuz MS-26	Aleksey Ovchinin, Donald Pettit, Ivan Vagner, human spaceflight, space mission,	Wikidata
class	orbit		Soyuz TMA-03M	André Kuipers, Donald Pettit, Oleg Kononenko, Soyuz TMA-M, human spaceflight,	Wikidata
class	orbit		Soyuz TMA-1	Donald Pettit, Frank De Winne, Ken Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin, Sergei Zalyotin, Yury Lonchakov, human spaceflight,	Wikidata
class	orbit		STS-113	Donald Pettit, Jim Wetherbee, John Herrington, Ken Bowersox, Michael López-Alegría, Nikolai Budarin, Paul Lockhart, Peggy Whitson, Sergei Treshchov, Valery Korzun, human spaceflight,	Wikidata
class	orbit		STS-126	Christopher Ferguson, Donald Pettit, Eric Boe, Gregory Chamitoff, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Sandra Magnus, Shane Kimbrough, Stephen Bowen, human spaceflight,	Wikidata
class	spaceflight		Expedition 72	Aleksey Ovchinin, Donald Pettit, Ivan Vagner, Nichole Ayers, Nick Hague, Sunita Williams, expedition to the International Space Station,	Wikidata
class	spaceflight	2002	Expedition 6	Donald Pettit, Ken Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin, expedition to the International Space Station,	Wikidata
class	spaceflight	2011	Expedition 30	Anatoli Ivanishin, André Kuipers, Anton Shkaplerov, Daniel C. Burbank, Donald Pettit, Oleg Kononenko, expedition to the International Space Station,	Wikidata
class	spaceflight	2012	Expedition 31	André Kuipers, Donald Pettit, Gennady Padalka, Joseph M. Acaba, Oleg Kononenko, Sergey Revin, expedition to the International Space Station,	Wikidata
commons	image		DonaldPettit		Commons
commons	image		Expedition 31 crew portrait		Commons
commons	image		Expedition 72 Crew Poster		Commons
commons	image		Iss072-s-002		Commons
commons	image		ISS Expedition 6 crew		Commons
commons	image		Orion Crew Module at Kennedy Space Center		Commons
commons	image		STS-126 FD3a		Commons
commons	image		STS113-335-033 - STS-113 - Flight Deck (FD) views of Wetherbee and Pettit for STS-113 - DPLA - 193ccb94c141d839206889f9d46239b8		Commons
commons	image		STS113-342-017 - STS-113 - STS-113, Expedition Five, Expedition Six in-flight crew portraits taken in the U.S. Laboratory - DPLA - 637da66d6903c5608bb2db9cdcebfc13		Commons
commons	image		S113E05244 - STS-113 - Expedition Six Crewmembers In-flight Crew Portrait taken in the U.S. Laboratory during STS-113 (11A) - DPLA - 9846fc9937510e62a391627aad75a8da		Commons