NASA astronaut and Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ returned to Earth Tuesday after his US record-breaking mission aboard the International Space Station.
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The departing crew are expected to make a rocket-assisted landing around 9:14 p.m. (7:14 a.m. Wednesday local time) in an area of flat terrain in Kazakhstan near the town of Dzhezkazgan.
On picture above: Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka.
“No other USA astronaut has Jeff’s time and experience aboard the International Space Station”. As indicated by the published report by NASA news, in the wake of spending an extended 172-day mission, three space travelers of the United States and Russian Federation arrived at daybreak on the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Williams’ new record beat out the recently retired Scott Kelly, who logged 520 days, 10 hours and 30 minutes over three missions.
Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka (both from Roscosmos) started, when their Soyuz TMA-20M undocked from ISS Poisk zenith docking port remaining 415 km over Mongolia at 21:51 GMT. As of the end of this mission, Williams has accrued 534 days in space, the most by any US astronaut in history, NASA reported.
Tonight, three astronauts will say farewell to the International Space Station as they head back to solid ground.
Together with the 49th team, cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, the six will carry out more than 200 scientific experiments. “Station is looking attractive!” he said.
“We’re incredibly proud of what Williams has accomplished off the Earth for the Earth”, he added.
Williams and the space station have a long history. NASA spokesman Dan Huot, who was reporting from the scene, said the trio’s Russian Soyuz capsule made a bull’s-eye landing. This was his fourth spaceflight mission with NASA.
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“We’ve enjoyed a great stay up here over the last nearly six months”. Williams has 534 days total, over the course of four missions starting 2000. Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Andrey Borisenko will head to the ISS from Kazakhstan on September 23.
