Jeff Williams, a veteran of four spaceflights - including his current expedition aboard the International Space Station, surpassed fellow USA astronaut Scott Kelly's record of 520 days, 10 hours and 30 minutes just before 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) on Wednesday (Aug. 24).

On Wednesday, the commander of ISS' six-person Expedition 48 crew marked his 521st day in space, a number likely to touch 534 days by September 6, the date of his return to Earth on September 6 doe the completion of his fourth spaceflight.

Williams has reached 520 days after a Space Shuttle mission in 2000, two previous increments on the Space Station in 2006 and 2009, and he's now nearing the end of his third mission to the Space Station.

Williams's new record is just a USA mark, because the astronaut with more time is Russian Gennady Padalka, with 879 days divided into five space missions.

Jeff Williams' record will not last long.

Kelly, who is now retired from NASA, called Williams from Mission Control in Houston and offered congratulations "on passing me up here".

The spacecraft will move to a safe distance from the station and fire its engines at 10:56 a.m.to drop out of orbit and descend back to Earth.

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"Nasa's trying to develop economic development in low-Earth orbit".

It is also true that, like his predecessor Kelly, Williams' duration record may be short-lived.

Of course, Kelly also couldn't let the moment go without poking a little fun at Williams, asking him if he could stay in orbit "another 190 days" like Kelly did when he broke the record.

Williams said, "That question's not for me, that's for my wife".

There are also plans to keep flying US and other partners' astronauts on Soyuz capsules on occasion, giving NASA another backup to the commercial vehicles.

NASA has revealed plans to sell or possibly even give away the International Space Station, which is thought to be the most expensive object ever built.

Recent news revealed that top US space agency NASA is considering to hand over the ISS to private companies.