Donald Pettit

Donald Roy Pettit is an American astronaut and chemical engineer best known for his orbital astrophotography and in-space inventions such as the Space Cup, which received the first ever patent for an object invented in space. He is a veteran of three long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission, and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2026, at age 71, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut and the third oldest person to reach orbit, behind John Glenn and Larry Connor. He has accumulated 590 days in space.

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Image: NASA Headquarters / NASA/Bill Ingalls · Public domain