NASA astronaut Don Pettit during crew qualification exams at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.Credits: GCTC/Roscosmos NASA astronaut Don Pettit is available for limited interview opportunities beginning at 10 a.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 16, to discuss his upcoming mission to the International Space Station in September.
The virtual interviews will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA+ through a variety of platforms including social media.
Interested media must submit a request no later than 12 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15, to the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov.
Pettit will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025.
During his time in orbit, Pettit will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. Pettit will participate in several of the hundreds of experiments happening during his mission, including studying how spaceflight affects blood clotting, continuing tests of technology to produce human stem cells in space, and contributing his unique photography skills to the long-running Crew Earth Observations study of how Earth is changing over time.
NASA selected Pettit as an astronaut in 1996. A veteran of three spaceflights, he has contributed to integral advancements in technology and demonstrations for human space exploration. He served as a science officer for Expedition 6 in 2003, operated the robotic arm for STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour in 2008, and served as a flight engineer for Expedition 30/31 in 2012. Pettit has logged 370 days in space and conducted two spacewalks totaling 13 hours and 17 minutes.
A native from Silverton, Oregon, Pettit holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, and a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to his career with NASA, Pettit worked as a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to focus more of its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
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Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Courtney Beasley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov