WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Jeff Williams will take time out of the final preparations for his launch to the International Space Station for live satellite media interviews from 7 to 8 a.m. EST Monday, Feb. 29, to discuss his upcoming mission aboard the world's only orbiting laboratory. These interviews will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website. 
 
 Williams will participate in the interviews from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, following a 30-minute b-roll feed on NASA TV highlighting his previous missions and ground training, which begins at 6:30 a.m. 
 
 To participate, media must contact Karen Svetaka at 281-483-8684 or karen.a.svetaka@nasa.gov no later than 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. Media participating in the live shots must tune to NTV-3. Satellite tuning information is available at: 
 
 http://go.nasa.gov/1pOWUhR 
 
 A native of Winter, Wisconsin, Williams will launch to the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on March 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with crewmates Oleg Skriprochka and Alexey Ovchinin, cosmonauts with the Russian space agency Roscosmos. 
 
 This mission will be Williams' fourth spaceflight and third long-duration stay on the space station, a first for an American, and will be his first return to the station since its completion in 2011. 
 
 Williams served as the flight engineer and lead spacewalker for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-101 mission in 2000. He was a flight engineer for space station's Expedition 13 in 2006, when the station had only two modules and three crew members. In 2009 and 2010, he served as a flight engineer on Expedition 21 and commanded Expedition 22, when the Tranquility module and cupola were added to the station. During that mission, he also became the first astronaut to interact live with NASA's social media fans and followers. 
 
 During his upcoming six-month mission, Williams will become the American with the most cumulative days in space -- 534 -- surpassing Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly, who will wrap up his one-year mission on March 1. 
 
 Williams also is expected to be at the station for arrivals of two American cargo spacecraft -- the SpaceX Dragon and Orbital ATK Cygnus -- as well as the deployment of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a demonstration of expandable habitat technology that will be attached to the station for two years. 
 
 After arriving at the station, Williams, Skriprochka and Ovchinin will join Expedition 47 NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Tim Peake. Together, they will facilitate about 250 research investigations and technology demonstrations, which aren't possible on Earth, to advance scientific knowledge of Earth, space, physical and biological sciences that will benefit humanity. Station research also will enable future long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space and on the agency's journey to Mars. 
 
 Williams is scheduled to return to Earth with Skripochka and Ovchinin in September. 
 
 For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit: 
 
 http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 
 
 Follow Williams on social media at: 
 
 https://twitter.com/Astro_Jeff 
 
 https://www.facebook.com/NASAAstronautJeffWilliams/ 
 
 https://www.instagram.com/astro_jeffw/ 
 
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 Expedition 47 preview: Astronaut Jeff Williams' career spans history of ISS 
 
 Posted by Jason Davis 
 
 17-03-2016 6:30 CDT 
 
 Topics: human spaceflight, astronaut, International Space Station, Russian human spaceflight 
 
 When NASA astronaut Jeff Williams first visited the International Space Station back in 2000, it was uninhabited. The rookie spacefarer was a mission specialist aboard space shuttle Atlantis, which was making an early supply run to the new outpost. At that point, the ISS was just two modules: Zarya and Unity. 
 
 Sixteen years later, Williams is embarking on his fourth journey to the station, riding a Soyuz spacecraft into orbit with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka. The trio lift off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan tomorrow at 5:26 p.m. EDT (21:26 UTC), and arrive six hours later. 
 
 Watch: Expedition 47 crew launch Launch: Friday, March 18, 5:26 p.m. EDT (21:26 UTC) 
 
 NASA TV coverage starts 4:30 p.m. Docking: 11:26 p.m. EDT (3:26 UTC Saturday) 
 
 NASA TV coverage starts 10:30 p.m. Hatch opening: 12:55 a.m. EDT Saturday (4:55 UTC) 
 
 NASA TV coverage starts 12:30 a.m. 
 
 "It occurred to me that I've had the opportunity to really cover the history of the building of the International Space Station," said Williams during a traditional pre-flight visit to Moscow's Red Square in February. "Now, its assembly is complete; we finished it up about the time I was there last. My visit before that was halfway through. So now, it's in full utilization mode and I look forward to personally sort of completing the story of the International Space Station." 
 
 During his six-month mission, Williams plans to use social media to highlight the history of the ISS—the construction of which spanned his career. After his initial shuttle visit, he returned in 2006 for a long-duration stay during Expedition 13. He completed a second stint in 2009 as a member of the Expedition 21 and 22 crew, serving as commander of the latter. He will reprise that role for Expedition 48, after current commander Tim Kopra departs with Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Peake in early June. 
 
 NASA / Bill Ingalls NASA astronaut Jeff Williams NASA astronaut Jeff Williams trains for his upcoming Expedition 47 flight at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams trains for his upcoming Expedition 47 flight at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. 
 
 Williams has spent a total of 362 days in space. Astronaut Scott Kelly holds the current American record for cumulative days in orbit: 534. Kelly racked up that total after spending a year aboard the station participating in experiments to see how humans react to long-duration spaceflight. 
 
 NASA expects Williams to break Kelly's record before returning to Earth with Skripochka and Ovchinin in September. Williams will tie Kelly's 534-day total on September 6. 
 
 Of Williams' Russian crewmates, only Skripochka has flown before, participating in Expeditions 25 and 26 in 2010 and 2011. Ovchinin, a rookie, will be in command of the trio's Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft. The vehicle will dock with the station's space-facing Poisk module, which was left empty by the departure of the one-year crew on March 1. 
 
 Starting next week, the ISS is scheduled to receive two cargo spacecraft in nine days. On March 22, an Orbital ATK Cygnus freighter launches from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V. And on March 31, a Russian Progress resupply ship will lift off from Baikonur. A SpaceX Dragon could also launch next month, but a NASA spokesperson said the date was still under review. 
 
 There are no spacewalks planned for Expedition 47. A second Dragon spacecraft will carry a new International Docking Adapter to the station as early as summer, and require a spacewalk for installation. 
 
 NASA / Aubrey Gemignani Soyuz TMA-20M on the pad Gantry arms close on the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft and carrier rocket prior to its Friday, March 18 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz will carry Expedition 47 cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, along with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, to the International Space Station. Gantry arms close on the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft and carrier rocket prior to its Friday, March 18 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz will carry Expedition 47 cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, along with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, to the International Space Station. 
 
 Or read more blog entries about: human spaceflight, astronaut, International Space Station, Russian human spaceflight 

 An American astronaut who is set to launch on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Friday is on track to break Scott Kelly's record to become the American who has spent the most cumulative days in space. 
 
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 When Jeff Williams finishes his six-month mission, the veteran astronaut will have racked up 534 career days in space -- beating Kelly's lifetime total of 520 days, according to NASA. 
 
 Williams, 58, was selected for NASA's class of astronauts in 1996. This will be his fourth trip to space and his third six-month stay at the International Space Station. 
 
 The Wisconsin native has two children and three grandchildren, according to his NASA profile. He also has a pretty cool distinction: NASA said Williams was the first astronaut to interact live with the agency's social media followers during Expedition 22 in 2010. 
 
 Williams will hitch a ride in Russia's Soyuz on Friday at 5:26 p.m. ET alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin. 
 
 The Soyuz is set to dock at the International Space Station six hours after launch, where the trio will be welcomed by American astronaut Tim Kopra, who is the current commander, along with British astronaut Tim Peake and Russian Yuri Malenchenko. 
 
 NASA has been purchasing seats for American astronauts on board the Soyuz since the 2011 retirement of the shuttle program. The agreement helps the United States maintain its presence in space as Boeing and SpaceX work on vehicles expected to be ready near the end of 2017.
– It's a good thing Scott Kelly nabbed two records during his year in space because one will soon be broken. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams—who is rocketing into space on Friday with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka—will become America's most experienced space traveler during a nearly six-month expedition on the International Space Station, reports Florida Today. At the end of Expedition 48, the 58-year-old will have spent 534 days in space over four trips to the ISS—14 days more than Kelly, who will retain his record for the longest single mission by an American at 340 days. "It's been a great privilege that I don't take for granted," says Williams, a grandfather who in 2010 became the first astronaut to interact live with NASA's social media fans from space, per ABC News. The Soyuz spacecraft departs from Kazakhstan at 5:26pm EDT and will dock at ISS six hours later. The three new arrivals will join America's Tim Kopra, British astronaut Tim Peake, and Russia's Yuri Malenchenko. Like Kelly, Williams will be a "guinea pig" for tests on space's effect on the human body. The 58-year-old Wisconsin native and retired Army colonel will also perform two spacewalks. He'll install a docking ring to be used by future Boeing and SpaceX crew capsules and activate an inflatable module, "a demonstration of expandable habitat technology that will be attached to the station for two years," per a press release. "Nothing becomes routine, nothing becomes boring up there," says Williams. Since his career has largely synced with the construction of the ISS (he first visited in 2000), he intends to use social media to share some of its history, per the Planetary Society.