At 58, Grandfather Astronaut Jeff Williams Sets Record

Washington D.C.: Jeff Williams, becomes the first American to make three long-duration flights to orbit. The grandfather of three is poised to blast into space and the record books on Friday, becoming the American astronaut who has spent the longest time in space.

The 58-year-old grandfather is thus set to break Scott Kelly’s record of spending 520 days in space. Kelly, 52, returned to Earth earlier this month after spending a total of 520 days in space, as part of an experiment to test the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the body and mind ahead of a potential future mission to Mars. The all-time record for cumulative days spent in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who racked up 879 days over his career and wrapped up his final mission in September 2015.

Williams heads to orbit on March 18 with over 362 days in space, including three spacewalks. His teammates this time will include Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin. The trio will launch to the International Space Station at 5:26 PM Friday (2126 GMT), joining NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and British astronaut Tim Peake about six hours after takeoff from Kazakhstan.

Williams’ previous missions were flown aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2000, as well as a trip in 2006 when the station was far smaller — with only two modules and three crew members. In 2009 and 2010, Williams served as a flight engineer for three months and later commanded the International Space Station (ISS) for the remainder of his half-year mission.

Williams, who is married and has two adult sons, is scheduled to return to Earth in September.