Donald Pettit

Donald Pettit
Pettit in 2024
Born	Donald Roy Pettit (1955-04-20) April 20, 1955 (age 69) Silverton, Oregon, U.S.
Education	Oregon State University (BS) University of Arizona (MS, PhD)
Space career
NASA astronaut
Time in space	426 days, 20 hours, 22 minutes [refresh] (currently in space)
Selection	NASA Group 16 (1996)
Total EVAs	2
Total EVA time	13 hours and 17 minutes
Missions	STS-113/Soyuz TMA-1 (Expedition 6) STS-126 Soyuz TMA-03M (Expedition 30/31) Soyuz MS-26 (Expedition 71/72)
Mission insignia
Scientific career
Fields	Chemical engineering
Thesis	Coherent Detection of Scattered Light by Submicrometer Aerosols (1983)
Doctoral advisor	Thomas Peterson

Donald Roy Pettit (born April 20, 1955) is an American astronaut and chemical engineer best known for his orbital astrophotography and in-space inventions such as the Zero G Coffee Cup, which received the first ever patent for an object invented in space.^[1] He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station (with a third stay currently underway), one Space Shuttle mission and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2024, at age 69, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut.

Early life and education

Pettit was born and raised in Silverton, Oregon. He is an Eagle Scout.^[2] He is married to Micki Pettit and has twin sons.^[3]

Pettit graduated from Oregon State University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering. He then did graduate study in chemical engineering at the University of Arizona, receiving a Ph.D. in 1983.

NASA career

"Lightning Bugs', a star trail image taken by Pettit in 2012 that went viral

Pettit worked as a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1984 until 1996, when NASA selected him as an astronaut candidate. He was a junior advisor to the Synthesis Committee of the Space Exploration Initiative on its May 1991 report "America at the Threshold", recommending plans for a human mission to Mars.^[4]: A-7

An astrophotographer, Pettit captured thousands of unique star trails and photographic data sets, which he regularly shares online. One, titled 'Lightning Bugs', went viral on the internet.^[5]

Spaceflight experience

Expedition 6

Pettit pictured during an EVA on Expedition 6

Pettit's first space mission was as a mission specialist on STS-113 and an Expedition 6 flight engineer on the ISS in 2002 and 2003. Pettit was the backup to NASA astronaut Donald Thomas, who was pulled from the mission just weeks before its scheduled flight due to medical concerns and replaced by Pettit.

Because NASA had already shipped up clothing and food for Thomas to the ISS, it presented Pettit and the agency with a few challenges. While Pettit needed to bring his own pants and shoes due to his taller stature, Thomas's polo shirts would fit, and the shared first name made the embroidery a non-issue. Given the high cost of launching cargo to the ISS, only a few additional comforts could be allotted to Pettit on the Shuttle's manifest. He was able to secure 12 cans of New Mexico chili to add spice to Thomas's bland food choices. After negotiations, NASA also approved 100 bags of instant coffee, although still not enough for every day of the mission.^[6]

During his six-month stay aboard the space station, he performed two EVAs to help install external scientific equipment. During free time on his stay aboard the International Space Station, he conducted demonstrations showing how fluids react in an extremely low gravity environment in a series he called "Saturday Morning Science".^[7]

The Expedition 6 mission was extended by about two months, following the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003 and the subsequent grounding of the shuttle fleet. Instead of returning on a shuttle, the crew returned in the Russian Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, the first time American astronauts had launched on the Space Shuttle and landed in a Soyuz.^[8]

Pettit's first landing experience on Soyuz was harrowing. He had been concerned that the film documenting his science experiments would be damaged by space radiation before the next shuttle could bring it home, so to safeguard the film and other items, Pettit secured them in a 20-kilogram (44 lb) pack he placed on his chest during reentry. While a normal Soyuz entry involves 3 G's, making the pack manageable, due to a guidance system failure during the Soyuz TMA's inaugural reentry, the capsule underwent a ballistic reentry, subjecting the crew to over 8 G's. This extreme force made the pack feel like a 160-kilogram (350 lb) weight pressing down on Pettit's chest.^[9][10] Pettit was left exhausted and reportedly dislocated a shoulder, but the space agencies downplayed the situation saying the astronauts were in good shape.^[11]

STS-126

Pettit was a mission specialist on the STS-126 mission to deliver equipment and supplies to the ISS.^[12]

Pettit also performed experiments on board ISS related to the clumping of solid particles in microgravity. The experiments showed that particles of various materials which varied in size between 1 micrometer and 6 mm naturally clumped together in microgravity when confined to a volume of 4 liters that included a few grams of the materials. The cause was theorized to be electrostatic. This presents a plausible mechanism for the initial stages of planetary formation, since particles of this size do not have sufficient gravity to cause this phenomenon.^[13][14]

Expedition 30/31

Pettit again launched to the International Space Station on December 21, 2011, as part of the Expedition 30/31 crew.^[15] He and fellow crew members Oleg Kononenko and André Kuipers arrived at the ISS on December 23.^[16] Among his off-duty video demonstrations on the space station has been on water as thin film and the Marangoni convection.^[17] On May 25, 2012, Pettit operated the Canadarm2 to grapple the first SpaceX Dragon 1 and berth it to the Harmony module.^[18] During the capture, he was quoted saying, "Houston, Station, we've got us a dragon by the tail."

This marked the first time a private spacecraft had ever rendezvoused with the ISS. The Dragon capsule was carrying supplies for the ISS, and the successful capture demonstrated the feasibility of using privately developed spacecraft to resupply the station. Pettit was the first to enter the uncrewed supply ship on May 26, making him the first astronaut in the history of space exploration to successfully enter a commercially-built and operated spacecraft in orbit.

Angry Birds Space Demos

Pettit demonstrates microgravity using characters from 'Angry Birds'.

During Expedition 30, on behalf of NASA in cooperation with Finland-based Rovio Entertainment, creator of the Angry Birds franchise, Pettit also made another video by using an Angry Birds character to explain how physics works in space, including demonstrating trajectories in microgravity by catapulting a Red Bird through the space station.

NASA states that such collaboration may share the excitement of space with the game community, educate users on NASA's programs, and create interactive educational experiences for the public.^[19]

The footage was released by NASA both on its official site and YouTube along with another commercial version by Rovio on March 8, 2012, to announce the launch of new game Angry Birds Space on March 22, 2012.^[20]

Expedition 71/72

NASA Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox (left) and NASA ISS Program Deputy Manager Dina Contella (right) walk Pettit to Soyuz MS-26. Bowersox was also Pettit's commander on Expedition 6.

On September 11, 2024, Pettit flew to space on Soyuz MS-26 commanded by Aleksey Ovchinin and with Ivan Vagner. The trio will join the crew of Expedition 71 and 72 for an approximately six month mission to the ISS.^[21][22]

Innovations and inventions

Astronaut Pettit operates the barn door tracker he constructed for ISS-based photography of the Earth's surface.

During Expedition 6, Pettit used spare parts found throughout the Station to construct a barn door tracker; the device compensates for the movement of the ISS relative to the Earth's surface, permitting sharper high resolution images of city lights at night from the orbiting space station.^[23][24]

In November 2008, Pettit invented the zero-g coffee cup, which used the wetting angle to carry fluid along a crease to permit drinking and avoid the necessity of a straw. This zero-g cup was featured in the May 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine, along with his notes on the relation of the internal cup angle to the contact wetting angle for various construction materials.^[25][26] The cup received the first ever patent for an object invented in space.^[1][27]

Antarctica

From November 2006 through January 2007, Pettit joined the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET), spending six weeks in the Antarctic summer collecting meteorite samples,^[28] including a lunar meteorite. During the expedition, he was called on to perform emergency electrical repairs to a snowmobile and emergency dental surgery. Periods of tent-confining inclement weather were spent continuing his Saturday Morning Science series—"on Ice"—with photographic surveys of crystal sizes of glacial ice samples and collections of magnetic micrometeorites from ice melt used for cooking water. (He estimated Antarctic glacial ice to contain roughly 1 micrometeorite per liter.)

References

1. "#WhyIMake | Don Pettit". YouTube. InfoSys Foundation USA. February 6, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
2. "Astronauts and the BSA". Fact sheet. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
3. "Ballistic Entry". NPR.org.
4. "America at the Threshold" (PDF). USRA. May 3, 1991. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
5. "Star Trails in Space Captured by NASA Astronaut in Incredible Viral Image". Newsweek. September 21, 2022.
6. Jones, Chris (2007). Too far from home: a story of life and death in space (1st ed.). New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-51465-1. OCLC 70107012.
7. NASA.gov
8. Jones, Chris (March 6, 2007). Too Far from Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space (1st ed.). Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-51465-1.
9. Manley, Scott (September 13, 2024). Astronaut Don Pettit's First Spaceflight was Crazy - And He's Still Flying!. Retrieved September 24, 2024 – via YouTube.
10. "Soyuz TMA-1 ISS EP-4". www.astronautix.com. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
11. Marmur Astana, Maxim (May 4, 2003). "Station Crew Returns Safely To Earth After Nerve-Wracking Search". Space Daily. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
12. Schwartz, John (November 14, 2008). "Handyman to Return to His Space Workshop". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
13. "FAST, REPEATABLE CLUMPING OF SOLID PARTICLES IN MICROGRAVITY" (PDF). S. G. Love and D. R. Pettit. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
14. "Building Planets in Plastic Bags". Sky and Telescope. Archived from the original on May 17, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
15. "New expedition 30 crew members launch to station". NASA. December 21, 2011. Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
16. Klotz, Irene (December 23, 2011). "New crew arrives at International Space Station". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2011.
17. Don Pettit (March 8, 2012). "Thin Film Physics". PhysicsCentralAPS.
18. Jonathan Amos (May 25, 2012). "Station grabs SpaceX Dragon ship". BBC News. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
19. "What Is Microgravity?". March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
20. "Angry Birds in Space". March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
21. Donaldson, Abbey A. (March 27, 2024). "NASA Astronaut Don Pettit to Conduct Science During Fourth Mission". NASA. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
22. Bardan, Roxana (September 11, 2024). "NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, Crewmates Arrive at Space Station". NASA. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
23. Cindy Evans & Will Stefanov (April 22, 2008). "Cities at Night: The View from Space". NASA. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
24. "Space Station Astrophotography". NASA. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
25. Charlie White. "Astronaut invents coffee cup for a weightless cup o' joe". Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
26. "The Zero Gravity Coffee Cup | Science Mission Directorate". Archived from the original on September 10, 2018.
27. US 20110101009A1, Donald Roy Pettit, Mark Milton Weislogel, Paul Concus, Roberl Finn, "Beverage cup for use in spacecraft or weightless environments", published 2011-05-05, issued 2011-12-13 
28. "Don Pettit Goes to Antarctica". December 11, 2006. Archived from the original on October 31, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links

• Don Pettit on Twitter
• NASA Biography
• Don Pettit's Space Chronicles on Ice
• Zero-g coffee cup demonstration on YouTube
• Don Pettit Oral History Interview