Scott Kelly (astronaut)

Scott Joseph Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American engineer, retired astronaut, and naval aviator. A veteran of four space flights, Kelly commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on Expeditions 26, 45, and 46.

Kelly's first spaceflight was as pilot of Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-103 in December 1999. This was the third servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and lasted for just under eight days. Kelly's second spaceflight was as mission commander of STS-118, a 12-day Space Shuttle mission to the ISS in August 2007. Kelly's third spaceflight was as a crewmember on Expedition 25/26 on the ISS. He arrived at the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-01M on October 9, 2010, and served as a flight engineer until he took over command of the station on November 25, 2010, at the start of Expedition 26. Expedition 26 ended on March 16, 2011, with the departure of Soyuz TMA-01M.

In November 2012, Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko were selected for a year-long mission to the ISS. Their year in space began with the launch of Soyuz TMA-16M on March 27, 2015, and they remained on the station for Expeditions 43, 44, 45, and 46. The mission ended on March 1, 2016, with the departure of Soyuz TMA-18M from the station.

Kelly retired from NASA on April 1, 2016. His identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, is also a retired astronaut, and the senior U.S. senator from Arizona.

Early life and education

Scott Kelly was born, along with his identical twin brother Mark, on February 21, 1964, in Orange, New Jersey, to Patricia (McAvoy) and Richard Kelly. Kelly's family lived in West Orange, where his parents worked as police officers. Kelly and his brother graduated from West Orange Mountain High School (New Jersey) in 1982. While in high school, Kelly worked as an emergency medical technician in Orange and Jersey City, New Jersey.

After graduating from high school, Kelly enrolled at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. During his first year, Kelly read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, and was inspired to pursue a career in naval aviation. After his first year, Kelly transferred to State University of New York Maritime College, where he received a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (Navy ROTC) scholarship. During the summer after his first year, Kelly sailed aboard SUNY Maritime's training ship, Empire State V, and stopped in Mallorca, Hamburg, and London. After his second year, Kelly sailed again on Empire State V. He served as the student battalion commander for his school's Navy ROTC detachment, and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering in 1987. Kelly later earned a Master of Science degree in aviations systems from the University of Tennessee.

Naval career

After graduation, Kelly was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. He completed his initial flight school at NAS Pensacola, where he flew the T-34 Mentor propeller driven trainer plane, after which he was selected to fly jets. In 1988, he moved to Beeville, Texas, for jet training Naval Air Station Chase Field, where he trained on the T-2 Buckeye and the A-4 Skyhawk. He graduated as a naval aviator in 1989, and was assigned to fly the F-14 Tomcat. He reported to VF-101 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, for initial F-14 training. Upon completion of this training in September 1990, he was assigned to VF-143, and deployed to the North Atlantic and Persian Gulf aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In January 1993, Kelly was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. His classmates included his brother, Mark, and other future astronauts Alvin Drew, Lisa Nowak, and Stephen Frick. He graduated in June 1994 and was assigned to the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate at Patuxent River. One of his initial assignments was to investigate the F-14 crash that killed Kara Hultgreen. His assessment was to create a digital flight control system that would have saved Hultgreen's life. This resulted in the acceleration of one's development, and he was the first pilot to fly the F-14 with the digital flight control system installed.

After attaining the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy, Kelly retired from active duty on June 19, 2012, after 25 years of naval service. He flew over 8,000 hours in more than 40 aircraft and accomplished over 250 carrier landings throughout his naval career.

NASA career

In 1995, Kelly and his brother applied to NASA to become astronauts. He and Mark were selected to become astronaut candidates in April 1996; the first relatives to be selected in NASA history. In July 1996, Kelly moved to Houston, and began training in Astronaut Group 16 at the Johnson Space Center. On completion of training, he was assigned to work on the caution and warning system on board the International Space Station.

After Kelly's first flight on STS-103, he served as NASA's director of operations in Star City, Russia. He served as back-up crew member to Peggy Whitson for ISS Expedition 5, and to Tracy Caldwell Dyson on Expedition 23/24. After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Kelly coordinated airplane and helicopter searches for debris. He also served as the Astronaut Office Space Station Branch Chief.

In September 2002, Kelly served as the commander of the NEEMO 4 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, 4 mi offshore from Key Largo. The NEEMO 4 crew spent five days saturation diving from Aquarius as a space analog for working and training under extreme environmental conditions. The mission was delayed due to Hurricane Isidore, reducing the underwater duration to five days. In April 2005, Kelly was a crew member on the three-day NEEMO 8 mission. During the NEEMO 8 mission, the crew practiced construction while conducting an extravehicular activity (EVA) using a remotely operated underwater vehicle, and training with the Exploration Planning Operations Center at the Johnson Space Center.

STS-103

In March 1999, Kelly was assigned to STS-103 as a pilot aboard Discovery, under command of Curt Brown, on a mission to install new instruments and upgraded systems on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Discovery launched on December 19, 1999, and rendezvoused with the HST after 40 orbits. The STS-103 mission specialists conducted three EVAs to replace gyroscopes and a transmitter, and to install a new computer guidance sensor and recorder. On December 25, 1999, the crew celebrated the only Christmas holiday of the Space Shuttle in orbit with a reading by Curt Brown. After 119 orbits, Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center on December 27, 1999.

STS-118

After completing his assignment as a back-up member for ISS Expedition 5 in 2002, Kelly was assigned as commander of STS-118 aboard Endeavour. After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, STS-118 was delayed until August 2007. STS-118 launched on August 8, 2007. During the launch, the orbiter was struck by nine pieces of foam from the external tank just as Columbia had been on its final, fatal mission. The underside of Endeavour was examined by cameras on the robotic arm and the ISS, and was assessed to not be dangerously damaged. The Shuttle successfully docked with the ISS on August 10. Endeavour's crew successfully added a truss segment, an external spare-parts platform, and a control moment gyroscope to the ISS. The mission was extended to 14 days while testing a new system that enabled docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the station. During the mission, four EVAs to install the new equipment were completed. The mission was ended a day early because of the approach of Hurricane Dean towards Houston. STS-118 completed 201 orbits, and landed on August 21, 2007, at the Kennedy Space Center, after 12 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes, and 34 seconds.

Expeditions 25 and 26

In late 2007, Kelly was assigned to Expeditions 25 and 26. Kelly lifted off aboard Soyuz TMA-01M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:10 pm EDT on October 7, 2010, along with cosmonauts Aleksandr Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka. TMA-01M was the first launch of an updated model of the Soyuz spacecraft, and featured improved guidance, environmental control, and flight-control systems. Kelly, Kaleri, and Skripochka arrived at the ISS on October 9, 2010, and joined Commander Douglas H. Wheelock and flight engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin on Expedition 25.

During Kelly's time aboard the ISS, the crew supported about 115 scientific experiments, including an improved water-recycling machine, the Boiler Experiment Facility to test heat transfer in microgravity, and a Japanese experiment to research vegetable growth in microgravity. During Expedition 25, cosmonauts Yurchikhin and Skripochka conducted an EVA to install a workstation on the Zvezda module, install handrails, and removed three Russian experiments. The crew of Expedition 24/25 returned to Earth on November 25, 2010, aboard Soyuz TMA-19; Wheelock transferred command of the station to Kelly.