NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Speaks Out After Appearing Unwell Following Return to Earth

Astronaut Don Pettit is opening up about his return to Earth.

Pettit, NASA’s oldest active astronaut, recently returned from a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station, touching down in Kazakhstan on April 20, his 70th birthday, alongside two other cosmonauts, the Associated Press reported. But when he stepped out of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Pettit threw up — and the astronaut has now explained it was gravity’s fault.

The astronaut described the experience as “what it’s like to come back to Mother Earth,” he said in a press conference on April 28, per Space.com. After 220 days of zero gravity, the stark change manifested as “creaks and groans” and physical sickness.

“I didn’t look too good because I didn’t feel too good,” Pettit said. “I was right in the middle of emptying the contents of my stomach onto the steppes of Kazakhstan.”

Thankfully, Pettit continued, the camera crew gave him some privacy during that moment. Photos after his arrival showed Pettit in a chair being carried by a group of men, smiling while offering a thumbs-up to the camera.

His life in space didn’t involve the little “aches and pains” that tend to arise while on Earth, he said. He never woke up with a knot in his neck or shoulder because “you’re just floating,” he said, never stuck in an uncomfortable position.

“I love being in space,” Pettit said, adding, “Your body, all these little aches and pains heal up. You feel like you’re 30 years old again — free of pain, free of everything and you’re ready to do your mission work. So I love being in orbit. It’s a great place to be.”

Pettit’s return comes just over a month after “stranded” astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned from the International Space Station back to Earth on March 18. Though their initial mission to the ISS was meant to only last 10 days, Wilmore and Williams ended up staying for nine months after multiple delays in bringing them back home.