NASA’s longest-serving and oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, made an unexpected stop in Glasgow following his return to Earth from a recent space mission.
The 70-year-old astronaut and his international crew landed safely over the weekend in a parachute-assisted capsule, touching down on the steppes of Kazakhstan.
After medical checks at the landing site, Dr. Pettit boarded a flight bound for Houston, Texas, while his Russian crewmates returned to their training base in Star City, near Moscow.
Surprisingly, flight tracking data revealed that Dr. Pettit’s plane made a stop at Glasgow Prestwick Airport on Sunday after an eight-hour journey from Kazakhstan.
With more than 18 months spent in orbit over his 29-year career, Dr. Pettit has completed multiple missions and logged 13 hours of spacewalks.
Upon landing, he was photographed giving a thumbs-up as rescue crews helped him from the capsule to an inflatable medical tent.
NASA said: “Dr. Pettit is doing well and within the expected range of health following his return to Earth.”
