"Veteran NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned from his 220-day mission on board the International Space Station in April 2025, the day of his 70th birthday, making him the oldest active astronaut on the space agency's roster. During his seven-month stint on board the aging orbital outpost, his fourth trip to space, Pettit took the time to photograph some dazzling views of the Earth below."
"On October 20, 2024, he took a stunning picture of an airplane that was passing by at cruising altitude hundreds of miles below him, a perspective only a handful of people get to enjoy. The plane was likely at around 7.5 miles in altitude, while the ISS orbits the Earth at around 250 miles. Don Pettit / NASA But a moderator at the r/aviation subreddit didn't look too kindly on the shot after Pettit posted it to the forum."
""We brought some new people onto the mod team and unfortunately there are some Learning curves," the moderator wrote, apologizing for the takedown. "I caught the issue and fixed it. Thanks to everyone who let me know that this happened." "I'd say the quality of the picture is pretty dang good considering that it's from about 250 miles away," the mod added in a separate apology addressed to Pettit directly."
Don Pettit returned from a 220-day International Space Station mission in April 2025, on his 70th birthday, becoming NASA's oldest active astronaut. During his seven-month stay, his fourth spaceflight, he photographed numerous Earth views, including an October 20, 2024 shot of an airplane cruising roughly 7.5 miles altitude while the ISS orbited about 250 miles above. A moderator on r/aviation removed the image citing a rule against blurry or low-quality pictures, prompting debate and an apology from another moderator who said new team members were learning and that the photo quality was impressive given the distance. Pettit's other images include Moon distortion, the Milky Way, and SpaceX trails.
Read at Futurism
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