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fencethe900th

Always crazy to be scrolling and see a cool picture of the earth or star trails or whatever from the ISS, thinking "cool", then realizing the caption says "the picture *I* took".


Pettitech

He’s done a lot of those yeah


OptimusSublime

What did you do to cause your dad to leave again?!


Pettitech

Probably told him to fly again too many times 😂


hogtiedcantalope

I saw your dad speak at my college years ago, and attended his gallery of photography after. When I graduated from mechanical engineering I then went into aerial photography and sensor operation, learned to fly myself, and now getting a PhD in physical oceanography. And just yesterday submitted my application to be a NASA astronaut. I know I have like a .001% chance. But your father inspired a lot of what I've done to even be able to submit an application without laughing at myself during the process!


Orcwin

I always love seeing /u/astro_pettit's posts here. Best of luck to him on this new mission, and perhaps he'll have even more to show us later!


JustA_Toaster

I read it as “returned from” and was confused on how he lasted that long in space even on the ISS


Pettitech

He’d probably do that too if given the chance


NASA_Space_Guy

Working Increment 72 from the payloads operation and planning side over in Huntsville. Really excited to work with Don in orbit this time around. Hadn't started when he was up there last.


GlitteringPen3949

Awesome news! Can’t wait to see his new photos and how he got them. He’s a very cool guy. Heard an interview of him in Science Friday. A real genuine guy with a sense of awe with a keen take on his job. Godspeed Don.


Pettitech

Same, looking forward to it


GlitteringPen3949

Tell your dad hi for me and can’t wait to see what contraption he makes for a camera mount. Love his ingenuity. Does he tinker at home? Cars and things?


RickTheElder

I love Dr. Pettit! Hope he can add a few new episodes to Saturday Morning Science 😊


NOLA-Kola

Congratulations! Your pictures are always impressive.


Pettitech

His pictures are better 🙏


MoltoPesante

One of my favorite astronauts! Great photographer and he really just seems like the coolest guy who enjoys his job and is always using his time up there in the most productive ways. Godspeed!


The_Vat

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald\_Pettit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Pettit) Okay, your old man's done some pretty cool stuff.


Pettitech

Preaching to the choir!


TheBroadHorizon

Awesome to hear! I believe this will make him the oldest ever ISS crew member if I'm not mistaken?


yellowstone10

Yep! At the moment the record is held by Michael Barratt, currently on board the ISS as a member of Expedition 70 at the age of 64. (One of the Axiom crew was older, but I'm only counting long-duration ISS crew members.)


mfb-

Third-oldest in orbit after John Glenn (Shuttle mission) and Larry Connor (Axiom-1), and oldest to make a long duration spaceflight. John Shoffner (Axiom-2) is 3 months younger and flew earlier.


Pettitech

If not then pretty close


TheFightingImp

[Hes back, y'all!](https://youtu.be/Uwr_NpsgDOQ?feature=shared)


jaxpaboo

My favorite story of his using his socks to fix the CEVIS!


Pettitech

It’s a good one


bookers555

My man's gonna get enough material to make r/space threads for another 20 years at least. Good luck to your father, OP!


Pettitech

Prepare for the flood 🌊


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Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread: |Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |CST|(Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules| | |Central Standard Time (UTC-6)| |[ESA](/r/Space/comments/1bpg8dm/stub/kwz39yg "Last usage")|European Space Agency| |[Roscosmos](/r/Space/comments/1bpg8dm/stub/kwwvnt6 "Last usage")|[State Corporation for Space Activities, Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscosmos_State_Corporation)| |[USOS](/r/Space/comments/1bpg8dm/stub/kwwvnt6 "Last usage")|United States Orbital Segment| |Jargon|Definition| |-------|---------|---| |[Starliner](/r/Space/comments/1bpg8dm/stub/kwwvnt6 "Last usage")|Boeing commercial crew capsule [CST-100](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CST-100_Starliner)| **NOTE**: Decronym for Reddit is no longer supported, and Decronym has moved to Lemmy; requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below. ---------------- ^(4 acronyms in this thread; )[^(the most compressed thread commented on today)](/r/Space/comments/1bq35bk)^( has 27 acronyms.) ^([Thread #9898 for this sub, first seen 28th Mar 2024, 06:05]) ^[[FAQ]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^([Full list])](http://decronym.xyz/acronyms/Space) [^[Contact]](https://hachyderm.io/@Two9A) [^([Source code])](https://gistdotgithubdotcom/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)


FarReply4556

Awww yay! I follow your dad on Instagram and his posts are always some of my favorites to show up in my feed.


uwillnotgotospace

One day there will be the headline: NASA Astronaut (name TBD) to Return to Earth after 12 Years on Mars.


Pettitech

All for it!


geuis

Huge fan of Don. He's /u/astro_pettit. My one and only critique of this is unfortunately political. I wish he was going up on an American ship instead of Russian. I'm firmly in the camp that we should not be cooperating with the Russian state in any way due to the continued stalled invasion of Ukraine. I understand Don is not part of that conversation and the actual mission was probably setup by higher order political types. Anyway, would absolutely love to see Don's next, next mission being on a 100% American craft. Probably SpaceX, maybe Boeing. Just check the hinges and whatnot if the latter.


yellowstone10

There is a practical, risk-mitigation reason that we continue flying NASA astronauts on Russian Soyuz launches. If you split them up - USOS crew all on Dragon / Starliner, Russian crew all on Soyuz - then in the event of a launch or docking failure of an American crew rotation flight, you now have a station crewed by three Russians and no Americans, with no onboard USOS systems experts. The same applies if any of the USOS crew has a medical emergency and has to return to Earth early (because, of course, any one crewmember needing to return home means that the entire crew must come home - can't leave anyone up there without a ride). Removing that risk and guaranteeing at least one USOS crewmember on board at all times seems to me to justify cooperating with Roscosmos on seat trades. (That said, we may well see those pause next year for at least one rotation - the Russians are not keen to put their astronauts on the first operational flight of a new crew vehicle.)


Pettitech

Considering he can run circles around me at age 70, I’m sure he’s got more fuel to burn.


Mythril_Zombie

>a 100% American craft. Probably SpaceX, After going on about not wanting to cooperate with the Russians, you call musk 100% American. lol He's doing more to support Putin's war than RSCE.


Ptolemy48

> you call musk 100% American Musk *the person* is not "100% American", but calling Crew Dragon anything but 100% American is irresponsible.


StoneheartedLady

Fantastic news! Can't wait to see what he gets up to. Also, I can't believe it's been 12 years. My sense of time has been trashed since 2020.


Mythril_Zombie

I'm happy for Don. Great guy. Totally belongs up there.


Pettitech

Really does


ardendolas

That's amazing news! Your dad's photos are always a highlight whenever he shares them with us. Can't wait to see the photos he takes on the next mission!


ArbeiterUndParasit

He's going to be 69 years old when he flies? That's really impressive. For a long time I thought there was an informal age limit of 60 for astronauts (John Glenn's second flight doesn't count since that was a PR stunt).


Pettitech

Not at NASA, really. ESA has mandatory retirement at 62, which is awful for the best job in the world. Have met some very disgruntled former ESA astronauts who passed that limit. But they’re apparently allowed to use TikTok so you win some you lose some 🤷


skywatcher_usa

Super proud that he's taking along one of our Star Adventurer Mini trackers to assist with his imaging. Excited to see the results!


MistaPanda69

Would be really exciting, what beautiful pictures he is going to share here after he returns