Mark Edward Kelly

Mark Kelly

Country:	United States
Organization:	NASA
selected on	May 1, 1996 (16th NASA Group)
Calls:	4 space flights
Start of the first space flight:	December 5, 2001
Landing of the last space flight:	June 1, 2011
Time in space:	54d 2h 4min
retired on	October 1, 2011
Space flights
STS-108 (2001) STS-121 (2006) STS-124 (2008) STS-134 (2011)

Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964 in Orange , New Jersey ) is a retired American astronaut . As the husband of the politician Gabrielle Giffords , who was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt , he campaigns for stronger gun control in the USA . He is running for a seat in the United States Senate in the 2020 election .

Family and education

Kelly was born in Orange, grew up and went to school in the city of West Orange just a few miles away . Kelly graduated from high school in 1982 and entered the United States Merchant Marine Academy . The USMMA, one of the five public US military academies, is responsible for the merchant navy and is located in Kings Point ( New York ). Kelly studied marine engineering and maritime transport, was trained in navigation, ship management and maritime law, and received his bachelor's degree (with honors) in June 1986 .

Kelly then made a pilot's license, acquired his license in December 1987, and was then transferred to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor, Washington . After an advanced course on the A-6E "Intruder" aircraft type , he was assigned to the 115th attack squadron (Navy designation VA-115). The squadron , which calls itself the "Eagles", was stationed in Japan at the time and was used on the aircraft carrier " USS Midway " until its decommissioning in 1992 . During this time the "USS Midway" was ordered twice to the Persian Gulf : From the end of May 1989, the "Eagles" flew two months under escort from Kuwaiti oil tankers. To support "Operation Desert Shield" during the Second Gulf War , the "USS Midway" returned to the Persian Gulf in October 1990. The "Eagles" then flew as part of "Operation Desert Storm" missions against targets in Iraq . The VA-115 flew 456 combat missions until mid-April 1991, of which Kelly flew 39.

In July 1991, Kelly went to Monterey , California . He studied aerospace engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) there and received his master’s degree in October 1992 . From June 1993 he was twelve months at the US Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) in Patuxent River ( Maryland ) for test pilots trained. Kelly then worked on the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron, which is with the USNTPS, and worked on modifying several types of aircraft for use on aircraft carriers.

Kelly is married to the politician Gabrielle Giffords and has two children from her first marriage.

Astronaut activity

Kelly was a flight instructor at USNTPS when NASA selected him for the 16th astronaut group in 1996. He was one of a total of 2,432 candidates who met the formal selection criteria. This resulted in 123 finalists who visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston between October 1995 and February 1996 for interviews and medical examinations. Kelly introduced himself to the selection committee with the second group of finalists in early November 1995.

For the first time in NASA history, twins made it to the final round of the astronaut selection and were nominated. Mark and his identical twin brother Scott are both trained marine and test pilots and were 32 years old when the 16th Astronaut Group was introduced in May 1996. The average age of the 1996 group was 36 years.

In mid-August 1996, Mark and Scott Kelly, along with the 42 other applicants - 10 pilots (including the two Kellys), 25 mission specialists, and nine international aspirants - began basic two-year training.

After his basic training as a shuttle pilot, Mark Kelly was assigned to the computer department of the astronauts office from autumn 1998.

STS-108

In January 2001, Kelly was set up for his first mission. STS-108 took place in December 2001 and was the twelfth flight of a shuttle to the International Space Station (ISS). The main task was to replace the ISS crew: the three-man 4th regular crew started with the Endeavor and replaced the regular 3 crew . This, also consisting of three space travelers, returned to earth after four months on the station. Kelly steered the space shuttle with his commander Dominic Gorie . He also operated the shuttle's robotic arm (RMS): when mission specialists Daniel Tani and Linda Godwin were doing an outboard job, Kelly was at the RMS controls to assist. It was also he who docked the Raffaello multipurpose module on the ISS at the beginning of the flight and stowed it back in the payload bay shortly before its return. The mission ended after twelve days.

STS-121

In mid-December 2002, NASA announced that Kelly had been selected for his second flight. Together with Steven Lindsey as commander and the mission specialists Carlos Noriega and Michael Gernhardt , he was to fly to the ISS in early 2004 with the STS-119 . In addition to three other mission specialists, a fresh three-person ISS crew should be on board. The crew should have consisted of ten people, because the relieved ISS crew should return to Earth with Kelly, Lindsey & Co.

Half a year after the Columbia crash , Kelly was reassigned to a new mission in early December 2003. Instead of STS-119, he was to fly as a pilot on STS-121 . This mission was also included in the flight manifest after STS-107. Since Kelly's flight STS-119 was scheduled to take place much later, but at the time there were not that many trained astronauts available, it was assigned to STS-121. This flight was carried out in July 2006 after several postponements. The main tasks were to prove, on the one hand, that the improvements made to the space shuttle after STS-107 and STS-114 were working and, on the other hand, to supply the ISS with goods and to strengthen its two-man crew with another crew member. This means that three space travelers have been working on the station again since ISS expedition 6 . In addition, the shuttle crew carried out three spacecraft works before the flight came to an end after two weeks.

STS-124

In March 2007, Kelly received his first command of his own. The launch of STS-124 took place on May 31st 2008, landing on June 14 of 2008.

STS-134

On August 11, 2009, Kelly was nominated for the STS-134 shuttle mission . This flight took place on May 16, 2011. Since his wife was seriously injured in an assassination attempt , it was temporarily uncertain whether Kelly would actually take part in the mission. Rick Sturckow was nominated as a possible replacement . Kelly was able to resume his seat, however, and under his command the space shuttle Endeavor took off on its last flight on May 16, 2011. The landing took place on June 1, 2011.

Political commitment

On June 21, 2011, Kelly announced that she would be leaving NASA and the Navy on October 1, 2011. After the assassination attempt on his wife Gabrielle Giffords, Kelly founded the lobby organization Americans for Responsible Solutions with her in early 2013 , which campaigns for stricter controls on the sale of weapons.

He repeatedly turned down requests for political candidacy. After Martha McSally's appointment as interim Senator for Arizona in January 2019, he declared his interest in running against her in the November 2020 by-election for the Senate seat that John McCain had held until his death . Other possible Democratic candidates for this open election were Congressmen Ruben Gallego and Greg Stanton, as well as former chief of staff John McCains Grant Woods . On February 12, 2019, Kelly announced his Senate candidacy in the Democratic primary . In March, Gallego decided not to run, making Kelly the clear favorite for the Senate nomination.