Chris Williams, the NASA astronaut who grew up in Potomac and calls it his hometown, landed safely in Kazakhstan on Sunday after spending 241 days aboard the International Space Station.

Williams, along with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, touched down in the Soyuz MS-28 capsule at 5:27 a.m. CDT (6:27 a.m. EDT) on the Kazakh steppe southeast of Dzhezkazgan. It was his first spaceflight.

The crew launched on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, and orbited Earth 3,856 times, traveling more than 102 million miles before their parachute-assisted landing.

Potomac roots

Williams attended Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac and Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, according to Bethesda Magazine reporting from his launch. He went on to study physics at Stanford University and earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before NASA selected him as an astronaut in 2021, he worked as a cancer researcher focused on improving imaging and radiation treatments for patients.

He is also an Eagle Scout, private pilot and former volunteer firefighter and EMT.

Science and spacewalks

During his eight months on the station, Williams contributed to research on cancer treatments, semiconductor manufacturing and spacecraft water systems. He also helped investigate ways to produce materials in microgravity for use in high-performance computers and electronics, according to NASA.

Williams completed two spacewalks totaling 14 hours and 22 minutes. The first, in March 2026, prepared the station for electrical power system upgrades. The second, on Monday, June 30, paired him with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir for a seven-hour, 20-minute repair of the Canadarm2 robotic arm after a wrist joint malfunctioned in late May.

"The arm was key to our orbiting laboratory and continues to be a workhorse that we rely on," Williams said during a live NASA broadcast as the June 30 spacewalk concluded.

What's next

After post-landing medical checks, recovery teams flew the crew by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Williams then boarded a NASA aircraft bound for Johnson Space Center in Houston for continued monitoring, according to NASA's space station blog.

No homecoming event in Potomac has been announced. Updates on Williams' post-flight schedule are available on NASA's astronaut page.