Science

Watch Astronaut Jeff Williams Return From the ISS on Tuesday

by Kastalia Medrano
Getty Images / NASA

On Tuesday, NASA’s Jeff Williams — the man with more hours logged in space than any other American astronaut in history — will return to Earth from the International Space Station with two Russian colleagues after 172 days in orbit.

Williams, along with Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will touch down in Kazakhstan at 9:14 p.m. EDT Tuesday evening. Williams has now spent a total of 534 days in space over the span of four missions. According to NASA, the trio contributed to hundreds of experiments spanning fields from biotechnology to Earth science since the current mission, Expedition 48, began in March of 2016.

Williams broke Scott Kelly’s record for most days logged in space by a U.S. astronaut. Kelly returned to Earth last year after having accumulated 522 total days in space, though he still holds the record for most consecutive days in space thanks to his Year in Space mission.

In addition to his Expedition 48 duties, Williams had previously taken over command of Expedition 47 when its former commander, NASA’s Tim Kopra, returned home in June. He has also garnered attention for being a devout Christian and a Creationist who has been vocal about how his NASA missions have deepened his faith.

You can watch Williams and the rest of the team touch down live on NASA TV. The farewell and hatch closure coverage is slated to begin at 2:15 p.m. EDT. The undocking coverage will begin at 5:30 p.m. EDT, and the deorbiting burn and landing coverage around 8 p.m. EDT.

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