Space to Ground: Birthday Homecoming: April 25, 2025

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

What is said in the film

Welcome to Space to Ground, I'm Raegan Scharfetter, and I'm Nicholas Page. A Soyuz spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station on Saturday, carrying a crew of two cosmonauts, and the one and only NASA astronaut Don Pettit back to Earth marking the completion of Expedition 72. Shortly after the undocking NASA astronaut and newly minted Expedition 73 flight engineer Anne McClain posted on social media about the departure of Pettit. In part McClain remarked "Earlier as I floated through the US lab segment I passed by our camera wall and noticed this: A camera stowed back on the wall with the initials "DP" Don Pettit. Most of you are quite familiar with his mastery of the camera, the multiple settings and lenses he used over the past months to bring you all the incredible views of our shared home planet.

But now his camera is back on the wall, like a cowboy hanging up his spurs. A quiet reminder that his mission is done. " That space cowboy and his colleagues traded spurs for wings as they flew through the fiery atmosphere to a safe landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan. It was a 220-day mission in space for Pettit and his cosmonaut counterparts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Spanning 3,520 orbits, the trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft making a safe, parachute-assisted landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 9:20 p.

m Eastern on Saturday, or 6:20 a. m local time Sunday, ringing in Pettit's 70th birthday. Several hours after landing, Pettit returned back to the U. S. and his home base in Houston.

This was Pettit's fourth career space flight totaling 590 days in orbit. What's the saying? "There is never a dull moment in space? " Well on Tuesday, just days after Pettit's return to Earth, a cargo packed SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the Zenith-facing port on the station's Harmony module as part of NASA's SpaceX 32nd commercial resupply services mission. Carrying approximately 6,700 pounds of new science experiments and supplies, the crew has been retrieving critical research investigations, food, and more for stowage aboard station.

Among those investigations is the DNA Nano Therapeutics - Mission 2. This experiment aims to continue work from previous investigations to develop in-space manufacturing of nanomaterials that mimic DNA. These materials are less toxic, more stable, and more biocompatible than current drug delivery technologies and could be used to deliver therapeutics, vaccines, and regenerative medicine. This investigation could also advance the ability to manufacture materials in space with greater homogeneity, structural integrity, and size compared to those made on Earth. Looking ahead to next week, NASA astronauts and flight engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers will exit the orbital outpost Quest airlock on May 1st for a spacewalk.

The duo will install a modification kit on the port side of the station's trust structure, enabling the future installation of the orbiting lab's seventh rollout solar array. They will also relocate an antenna that communicates with approaching and departing commercial crew and cargo spacecraft. The spacewalk will mark number three for McClain who conducted two during her time on Expedition 59, and will be the first for Ayers. You can watch the live coverage of this monumental spacewalk on NASA+ May 1st. And we invite you to also catch Don Pettit as he recaps his latest mission from Houston, just a few days prior on April 28th.

And you can always get updates about the International Space Station anytime on social media @Space_Station. For this week, that's space to Ground. Thank you for watching.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from [NASA](https://images.nasa.gov/details/jcs2025m000067_Space to Ground_567_250425). NASA material is generally not copyrighted and is in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.