Jeffrey Nels Williams is a retired United States Army officer and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four space flights and formerly held the American record for most days spent in space, which was surpassed in April 2017 by his colleague Peggy Whitson. He still holds the record of the longest time in space for an American man.
In July 2002, Williams served as the commander of the mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for six days. During his six-month stint at the International Space Station in 2006, Williams orbited the Earth more than 2,800 times. During Expedition 13, he worked on hundreds of experiments, walked in space twice, and captured more photographs of the Earth than any other astronaut in history. Many of his photos are found in his book The Work of His Hands: A View of God's Creation from Space, where he shares personal narrative and vivid photos of the Earth. Williams also served as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 21 and assumed command of Expedition 22 in November 2009 having arrived on the International Space Station with his crew mates via Soyuz TMA-16 which launched on September 30, 2009. Williams with Expedition 22 Flight Engineer Maksim Surayev landed their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan on March 18, 2010, wrapping up a 167-day stay aboard the Space Station. On Expedition 47, Williams surpassed Scott Kelly 's record of 520 cumulative days in space which was set when he returned from space on March 1, 2016; Williams beat this record with 534 cumulative days. Williams also flew aboard the Soyuz TMA-8 mission, replacing Expedition 12 astronaut William S. McArthur. He was previously in orbit as the Expedition 13 Flight Engineer and Science Officer aboard the International Space Station. He returned to Earth on September 28, 2006. On August 24, 2006, a taped message made by him to be played at an official NASA press conference was accidentally played over the air-to-ground loop, the tape revealing that the Crew Exploration Vehicle under development to replace the Space Shuttle after 2010 would be named Orion after the famed wintertime constellation.
First live tweetup from space
On October 21, 2009, Williams and his Expedition 21 crewmate, Nicole Stott, participated in the first NASA Tweetup from the station with members of the public gathered at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This involved the first liveTwitter connection for the astronauts. Previously, astronauts on board the Space Shuttle or ISS have sent the messages they desire to send as tweets down to Mission Control which then posted the message via the Internet to Twitter.
Expedition 47/48
Williams returned to space station in 2016 as part of Expedition 47/48. Upon the departure of Soyuz TMA-19M he became commander of Expedition 48. Williams has been returned to earth safely on 6 September 2016.
Personal life
Williams is a committed Christian. Following his return from the Expedition 21 mission, he wrote the book The Work of His Hands: A View Of God's Creation From Space about his experience in space. The book reflects in Williams words the "vivid lessons about the meticulous goodness of divine providence, God's care for His creation, and His wisdom in ordering the universe." He is married to Anne-Marie Williams.
