{"id":33341,"date":"2025-04-19T16:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T16:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33341\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T16:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T16:07:13","slug":"nasa-astronaut-don-pettit-uses-his-camera-for-science-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33341\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Uses His Camera for Science in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

NASA astronaut Don Pettit<\/a>, known for his incredible astrophotography<\/a>, sense of humor<\/a>, and clever camera contraptions<\/a>, is scheduled to return to Earth this month after a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Before leaving space, Pettit shared some of the awesome science he has done as part of Expedition 72. <\/p>\n

\u201cI come alive when I\u2019m in orbit. It\u2019s like my being should be in space,\u201d Pettit says, while video clips of him taking photos and toying with a camera in zero gravity play. \u201cSome people are born to be cowboys and ride a horse. I\u2019m born to ride a rocket and be in space.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pettit describes what he calls \u201cscience of opportunity,\u201d which can happen anywhere while doing strict experiments, whether on Earth or in space. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you are there [doing science experiments], and you can, you get an idea,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not on the script, it\u2019s not part of the program, but you get an idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the \u2018science of opportunity\u2019 happens anywhere there are people thinking about advancing our knowledge, and the same thing happens on [the] space station.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A\u2018NASA astronaut Don Pettit demonstrates electrostatic forces using charged water droplets and a knitting needle made of Teflon. This series of overlapping frames displays the unique attraction-repulsion properties of Teflon and charged droplets, similar to how charged particles from the Sun behave when they come in contact with Earth\u2019s magnetic field.\u2019 | Credit: NASA, Don Pettit<\/p>\n

Because Pettit is such a talented photographer, people on Earth get to enjoy his creative science experiments, too, including the incredible image above that resulted from an experiment investigating charged water drops in orbit, which behave similarly to how charged particles emitted by the Sun act when they hit the Earth\u2019s magnetic field. Astronauts like Pettit get a fantastic top-down view of the planet\u2019s atmosphere from orbit, providing ample opportunity to study it. Pettit also enjoys witnessing beautiful auroral displays from space, as shown in his aurora borealis timelapse video below. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Another excellent example of Pettit\u2019s \u201cscience of opportunity\u201d concerns the International Space Station\u2019s sophisticated freezers. The Minus Eight-Degree Laboratory Freezer for International Space Station<\/a> (MELFI) is vital for preserving samples that require further analysis on Earth. It also enabled Pettit to freeze fragile ice wafers, which he photographed using a polarizing filter to expose mind-bending crystal structures. <\/p>\n

\"OnDon Pettit\u2019s incredible macro image of ice crystals, captured using a polarizing filter. Right: Pettit at work capturing the photo aboard the ISS. | Credit: NASA, Don Pettit <\/p>\n

Pettit\u2019s skills behind the camera also make him an ideal candidate to capture various scientific experiments and processes aboard the ISS. The timelapse sequence below shows the Canadarm2 retrieving Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-20-Commercial) samples at the ISS. This mission exposed various experiments to the harsh environment of space, including vacuum pressures, radiation, and extreme temperatures. These experiments are important for designing more durable materials and perhaps even improving quantum communications, and photographic evidence of the experimental processes is a crucial piece of the puzzle. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Close-upAnd the photos look great, too! | Credit: NASA, Don Pettit<\/p>\n

Don Pettit is not just an astronaut, scientist, and engineer \u2014 he is an artist. PetaPixel has featured many of his photos over the years, including some he has captured during his most recent and ongoing mission aboard the ISS. NASA highlighted some of Pettit\u2019s most creative new space photos, which are featured below. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

\"AGMT040_13_30_Don Pettit_CEO targets daytime <\/p>\n

More of Pettit\u2019s remarkable space images<\/a> \u2014 and entertaining musings \u2014 are available on X, formerly known as Twitter. <\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> NASA, Don Pettit <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA astronaut Don Pettit, known for his incredible astrophotography, sense of humor, and clever camera contraptions, is scheduled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[19526,6306,2361,19527,19528,7547,874,19529,70,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-33341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-astronaut","9":"tag-aurora","10":"tag-camera","11":"tag-donpettit","12":"tag-internationalspacestation","13":"tag-iss","14":"tag-nasa","15":"tag-nikon","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-space","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114365494252096833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}