MELBOURNE, Fla. — 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.
But as of Wednesday, that career record belongs 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 marked 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.
On Wednesday, Kelly called Williams to congratulate him on his achievement.
"I wanted to congratulate you on passing me up here in total number of days in space," said Kelly. "It's great to see another record broken. ... But I do have one question for you. And my question is: You got another 190 days in you?"
Williams said, "That question's not for me, that's for my wife."
Don’t expect the retired Army colonel — a 58-year-old grandfather who is 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.
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 space station 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 International Space Station expeditions, which typically last five or six months each. The previous two were in 2006 and 2010, before station construction was officially complete.
Williams’ current mission has helped set the stage for the station’s next chapter, which will rely more on commercial operations.
On 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.
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 space station.
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 space station 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 International Space Station in November and set a new U.S. record next year.