Astronaut Jeff Williams returns to Twin Ports to talk about his time in space

Colonel Jeff Williams, born in Superior and raised in northwestern Wisconsin, has spent more than 534 days in space – the longest time recorded by an American man. Williams is now retired from the U.S. Army and lives in Washington state, but has occasionally returned to the Northland.

Williams was in town for the day and was a guest speaker at two locations in Duluth on Friday. The first was Denfeld High School.

“I had people, teachers and others who inspired me to go beyond where I would have been otherwise and that’s why it’s important to take advantage of those opportunities and be an inspiration,” Williams said. “I spoke to the science class and then to the whole school – about a thousand children in the auditorium there. It was a very good experience. The children were very involved and we had a good conversation.”

Williams talked about his experience doing five spacewalks, an activity he calls “the ultimate skydive.”

“It’s the hardest part of the whole experience physically and mentally, physically, because you’re working hand over hand in a pressure suit. Every time you have to move your fingers or your forearms, it takes a lot of muscles working against the pressure of the pressure suit,” he explained. “It’s like threading needles with ski gloves on. You know, so everything is very difficult. We train a lot for that.”

While in space, Williams discovered a passion for photography. Showing photos of famous locations like the Grand Canyon, Williams explained what it felt like to see Earth from space.

“Over time you see the entire globe, except the North and South Poles, as you watch the seasons pass. So it’s a great vantage point to study the Earth,” Williams said. “You can see the atmosphere, the relative thickness of the atmosphere, and then the incredible star field alignment with the Milky Way right there in the center of the image. An incredible advantage.”

The other stop for his visit was the St. Louis County Depot for the 19th annual Veterans Remembrance Dinner. The fundraising event, hosted by the St. Louis County Historical Society and its Veterans Memorial Hall program, included a social hour and silent auction. Williams was the keynote speaker.

“What is very important is that we recognize those people who have dedicated part of their lives to the service of our country and to our defense, and of course many have given their lives or sacrificed them in other ways, with injuries or whatever , especially in the recent past with the war on terror and all the things that have been going on since then. So it’s really important to honor what less than 1% of our population has become who serves in that way,” Williams said.