NASA astronaut Don Pettit to return from ISS on 70th birthday
Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — In a remarkable coincidence, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will mark his 70th birthday with a fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday, capping off his fourth mission to space, the agency said in a release.
Pettit, along with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will bid farewell to their orbital home of more than seven months when they undock from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. ET Saturday.
The trio’s journey back to Earth is scheduled to end at 9:20 p.m. ET, NASA noted. It will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan, where recovery teams will be waiting to extract them from their capsule.
During their 220-day mission, the crew circled the Earth an astounding 3,520 times, traveling approximately 93.3 million miles.
The departure marks another milestone for the crew members: Ovchinin concludes his fourth spaceflight with 595 days in orbit. Vagner adds to his impressive record with 416 cumulative days across two missions.
Before their departure, a change of command ceremony will take place on Friday, with Ovchinin transferring leadership of the space station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, who will command Expedition 73.
After touchdown, NASA noted that the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, they’ll part ways — Pettit heading back to Houston while his Russian crewmates return to their training base in Star City, near Moscow.
The mission highlights the continuing international cooperation aboard the ISS, which has maintained continuous human presence for over two decades.
NASA’s release also stated that the ISS remains a crucial platform for scientific research and testing technologies for deep space exploration as the agency shifts its focus toward ambitious Moon and Mars missions under the Artemis program.
NASA will provide live coverage of the crew’s return journey on NASA+, starting with Friday’s change of command ceremony and continuing through Saturday’s landing.
(LOS ANGELES) — An investigation is underway after authorities found a body matching the description of a missing 13-year-old boy, Los Angeles police said.
Oscar Omar Hernandez, of the San Fernando Valley, was reported missing by his family on Sunday after he “failed to return home from visiting an acquaintance in Lancaster,” LAPD Capt. Scot Williams said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division assumed the lead Tuesday in the investigation, which subsequently led them to an “area of interest” in the city of Oxnard, west of Los Angeles, Williams said.
“In collaboration with our partners at the FBI, a coordinated foot search of that area took place,” Williams said. “During the search, a body matching the description of the missing teen was discovered.”
The identity of the deceased has not been officially confirmed, and the cause of death remains undetermined, police said.
Detectives are pursuing leads to “determine the cause of death and to identify any individuals who may be involved or possess information relevant to this investigation,” Williams said.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters at the scene in Oxnard on Wednesday that they were working to establish a timeline in the case.
“The family was aware of his destination, and I’m going to kind of leave it at that as part of the investigation,” he said.
Police would not say what led them to Oxnard.
“All we can say is that our investigation led us to this point here … in the unincorporated area of Ventura County,” Hamilton said.
Family and friends of Oscar paid tribute to the teen on Thursday at the site where the body was found on the side of a road in Oxnard.
“He didn’t need to be treated like an animal. That was my son,” his mother, Gladys Bautista, cried out in Spanish, ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC reported.
Loved ones also gathered outside his home in the North Hollywood area, where friends remembered him as the “nicest person” who was “always kindhearted” and a great dancer.
Police did not have an update on the investigation on Friday.
“Anyone that thinks they’re going to get away with any kind of foul play or nefarious activity or criminal activity, they’re going to learn that the Los Angeles Police Department will stop at nothing to bring people to justice,” Hamilton said at the scene Wednesday.
Roughly half of California’s farm workers are undocumented immigrants. Via ABC News
(LOS ANGELES) — California’s Central Valley is considered “America’s bread basket,” supplying a quarter of the nation’s food and producing 40% of its fruits, nuts and other table foods.
However, roughly half of California’s farm workers are undocumented immigrants, so President Donald Trump’s plan to fast track mass deportation and the images of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the country have spread fear on these farms.
It started shortly before Trump returned to office on Jan. 20. The U.S. Border Patrol raids in Central Valley’s southern Kern County — dubbed “Operation Return to Sender” — hit close to home for people in the region.
“Op Return to Sender brought 78 undocumented noncitizens, many w/criminal records, out of the shadows,” USBP Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino wrote in a Jan. 16 post on X.
The people arrested didn’t all have criminal records, and immigrant rights groups say fear is trickling through undocumented workers.
“You have families that are being ripped apart. You have community members that are living in fear,” immigration attorney Ana Alicia Huerta told ABC News. “They’re scared to go outside. They’re asking neighbors and friends who have status to drive them back and forth because they’re concerned that they may be targeted.”
Advocacy groups say the raids have prompted some farmworkers to stay home, which could reduce the harvesting of produce and other goods.
“It’s not easy to live in fear, when we are the ones putting food on your table,” farmworker Xochilt Nuñez told ABC News in Spanish. “Since the beginning I’ve said, do not bite the hand that feeds you.”
Nuñez has worked in the fields of Central Valley for 16 years, and said she loves the feeling of the soil, the smell and “la libertad” — the freedom of the fields.
“We are glad to be at work at 6 a.m. and have an hour commute,” she said. “We do it happily, from the bottom of our hearts. Because we love this soil.”
She noted that immigrants are “living in terror” because they’re concerned immigration officials will come to the fields. She also expressed concern that farm workers staying home for fear of deportation or actually getting deported may result in produce prices increasing due to a labor shortage.
“Can you believe there are people who have been here for more than 35 years, working, paying taxes and do not have the right to a work permit?” Nuñez said. “We need to be empathetic with those people. Because they do not rest — and the economy lays on their backs.”
The United Farm Workers Foundation, the largest union representing America’s farmworkers, held a virtual press briefing in January after Border Patrol detained at least two of their union members.
“Both members had lived and worked in the United States for over 15 years,” they said. “One leaves behind two children under the age of 10, and the other leaves behind four children between the ages of four and 10.”
Elizabeth Strater, national vice president and director of strategic campaigns for the UFW, said that a report claiming 75% of farm workers were staying home from work is not accurate. She noted that the workers can’t afford to miss work, especially since it is peak harvest season for citrus.
“Farm workers are enduring great anxiety after the chaotic immigration sweeps targeting farmworker communities earlier this month. They still have to provide for their families,” she said. “Regardless of status, they all deserve better than to be profiled and terrorized for simply doing the work it takes to feed this country.”
Some immigrant families are too afraid to leave home to even get groceries, prompting groups like Latino nonprofit Celebration Nation to set up food drives. Its founder, Flor Martinez Zaragoza, told ABC News the group will be feeding farm workers every day for the next six weeks.
“It’s very ironic that we’re feeding those that feed the nation because they’re very food insecure,” she said during a food drive in Fresno.
In Kern County, rapid response groups are teaming up with immigration attorneys like Huerta — she emphasized that people have rights regardless of their status.
“If you’re arrested, don’t sign anything,” she said. “Ask to speak to an attorney.”
Huerta said this isn’t the first time her community has had to fight for their humanity. Central Valley is home to famed labor organizers and civil rights leaders like her grandmother Dolores Huerta, along with César Chávez.
Three generations later, their grandchildren are carrying on that legacy. Andrés Chávez does so as the executive director of the National Chavez Center.
“If there’s anything that the last week has taught us, it’s that it’s going to be a long four years. And so folks like myself and groups like ourselves are having to prepare for this long-term fight,” he told ABC News. “And I think back to my tata César’s words — he would always say, ‘You only lose when you give up.'”
Members of the Chicago White Sox grounds crew struggle to deploy the rain tarp in the bottom of the seventh inning as hail and rain delay a game against the Los Angeles Angels at Rate Field on March 30, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power across the Midwest on Monday after deadly, severe weather battered the region on Sunday.
More than 310,000 customers are without power in Michigan Monday morning. Another 55,000 are without power in Wisconsin and 48,000 are in the dark in Indiana.
The National Weather Service said it recorded more than 200 wind damage reports and at least four tornadoes were reported across Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Five fatalities have been attributed to the storm.
Three children — a 2-year-old girl, her 4-year-old brother and their 11-year-old cousin — were killed when the car they were in was hit by a tree in Michigan, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office said. Weather appeared to be the main contributing factor, the sheriff’s office said.
In Valparaiso, Indiana, one person was killed when “severe crosswinds” blew a tractor and a trailer onto their sides, according to local authorities.
The National Weather Service said a second person was killed north of Millersburg, Indiana, when wind from a thunderstorm blew over an Amish buggy.
The severe weather threat continues Monday, with both tornado and severe thunderstorm watches in effect across multiple states in the South.
Some storms could bring hailstones the size of tennis balls and damaging winds of up to 60 mph.
The storms are expected to reach New Orleans and Atlanta in the morning. The severe weather will hit Jacksonville, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; and Charlotte, North Carolina, by the afternoon.
The Southeast region is where the strongest of the storms are expected, with damaging wind, large hail and tornadoes possible.
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York could see storms by the evening rush hour.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
