NASA's Williams sets U.S. space record

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY

Scott Kelly is widely known as the Ironman of U.S. astronauts after his recent yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station, during which he set a NASA record for most cumulative days in space with 520 over four flights.

Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams earlier this month monitored bowling ball-sized internal satellites known as SPHERES aboard the International Space Station. Williams on Wednesday sets a U.S. record for most cumulative days in space with 521 over four missions. His record is expected to total 534 days by the time he returns to Earth in early September.

But as of Wednesday, that career record will belong not to Kelly but Jeff Williams, an unassuming NASA veteran who doesn't mind if his six-month tour lacks the promotion and buzz of Kelly's "#YearInSpace."

The commander of the station’s six-person Expedition 48 crew marks his 521st day in space Wednesday, a total expected to reach 534 days by the time he returns to Earth on Sept. 6 to conclude his fourth spaceflight.

Don’t expect the retired Army colonel — a 58-year-old grandfather who the oldest NASA astronaut to live on the orbiting laboratory complex — to boast about the achievement.

“It’s an honor to spend any day in space, and certainly to have accumulated that time is truly an honor for me,” Williams told NASA TV recently.

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But he prefers to shift the attention to the station itself, which he considers humanity’s greatest technological feat, and the international partnership that has put it together.

“That’s really the bigger story to me, personally,” he said.

Williams’ 20-year astronaut career has spanned the station’s assembly, which began in 1998.

His first flight was a 2000 shuttle mission that helped set up the fledgling outpost for its first permanent crew later that year. Crews have now lived continuously on the ISS for nearly 16 years.

Since that 10-day shuttle flight, it’s been all long-duration missions for the Wisconsin native, who has launched three times from Kazakhstan on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

He’s the first American to serve on three ISS expeditions, which typically last five or six months each. The previous two were in 2006 and 2010, before station construction was officially complete.

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Williams’ current mission has helped set the stage for the station’s next chapter, which will rely more on commercial operations.

Last Friday he performed his fourth spacewalk, pairing with NASA’s Kate Rubins to install a docking port that opened the door for Boeing and SpaceX crew capsules to visit the outpost late next year or in early 2018. They are preparing for another spacewalk next week.

On Aug. 19, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams (shown) and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA successfully installed the first of two international docking adapters to the International Space Station during a five-hour and 58-minute spacewalk.

Williams also has helped set up a prototype habitat module designed by Bigelow Aerospace, a potential precursor to private space stations that could follow the ISS.

A West Point graduate in 1980, Williams later earned two master’s degrees and finished first in his class at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Still, it took him about 10 years and multiple applications to win entry into NASA’s astronaut corps in 1996. He preaches perseverance to young people.

Williams is old enough to remember Russia as a Cold War adversary. Now he sees the ISS partnership involving the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada as a model for peaceful international relations.

“I trust that it serves as a very positive example to the world below,” he said.

When he returns to Earth in less than two weeks, Williams told CBS News recently that he looks forward to seeing family and friends and to “the simple things in life.” Those include smells of Earth often taken for granted, relaxing in quiet without the station’s constant hum of fans and pumps, and anything his wife will cook for him.

“She’s the real hero in all of this, putting up with me being up here that many days over the years,” he said.

And Williams knows records are made to be broken. In fact, Peggy Whitson, currently fourth on NASA's career list with 377 days in space, is scheduled to launch to the ISS in November and set a new U.S. record next year.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.asd

Most cumulative days in space by U.S. astronauts

Jeff Williams: 534*
Scott Kelly: 520
Mike Fincke: 382
Peggy Whitson: 377
Mike Foale: 374
Don Pettit: 370

*Projected total upon completing mission Sept. 6.

Source: NASA