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 during STS-103 in December 1999. This was the third servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and lasted for just under eight days. Expedition 26 ended on March 16, 2011, with the departure of Soyuz TMA-01M. 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 is of Irish descent. 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.

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. After the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Kelly coordinated airplane and helicopter searches for debris. 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

thumb|Kelly on STS-103 in a partial-pressure suit for reentry and landing (1999)

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

thumb|The crew of STS-118 (2007)

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. Endeavours 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

thumb|230px|The Expedition 26 crew (2010)

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.

On December 17, 2010, Soyuz TMA-20 arrived at the station with the crew of Expedition 26/27 cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli. The crew of STS-133 aboard Discovery arrived at the station February 26, 2011. The crew of STS-133 performed two EVAs to replace a pump and install the Permanent Multipurpose Module. Discovery undocked from the ISS on March 7, 2011, and landed for the final time two days later.

On January 8, 2011, while Kelly was on the ISS, Kelly's sister-in-law Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot in Tucson. Soyuz TMA-01M landed in Kazakhstan on March 16, 2011, and Kelly traveled to TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston to see Giffords and Mark. Mark was the commander of STS-134, the final flight of Endeavour, and launched on May 16, 2011, with Giffords in attendance.

Expeditions 43–46

thumb|Kelly and Korniyenko aboard the ISS (2015)

thumb|Kelly with President [[Barack Obama in January 2015]]

NASA began planning for a year-long mission aboard the ISS following a Russian announcement for a similar mission. The primary goal of the year-long expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory was to better understand the effects of spaceflight on the human body. In November 2012, Kelly was selected for a one-year mission to the ISS, but was medically disqualified the following day due to his vision worsening in microgravity. Kelly appealed to NASA, and was reselected for the mission along with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. TMA-16M docked with the ISS at 9:36 pm EDT, and the crew joined the Expedition 43 crew of commander Terry Virts and flight engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti. Once aboard, the crew performed scientific experiments, including evaluations of the fluid shifts in their bodies to determine their effects on eyesight, and repeated collections of blood and urine for chemical analysis. During Expedition 43, the ISS received supplies from the SpaceX Dragon CRS-6 mission, but lost their resupply due to the failure of the Russian Progress 59 spacecraft. Expedition 44 began on June 11, 2015, when Virts transferred command of the ISS to Padalka, and Soyuz TMA-15M landed in Kazakhstan at 9:44 am EDT.

Soyuz TMA-17M docked with the ISS on July 22, 2015, bringing NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui to join Expedition 44. During Expedition 44, the ISS was resupplied by the JAXA HTV-5 and the Russian Progress 60 vehicles; the crew experienced another loss of a resupply mission with the SpaceX CRS-7 failure. On August 28, 2016, the crew of Soyuz TMA-16M undocked and subsequently docked the spacecraft to a different port to prepare for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-18M. Soyuz TMA-18M docked with the ISS on September 4, 2015, bringing Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov to the station. One of Soyuz TMA-18M's missions was to deliver a new Soyuz to the station for the return of Kelly, Korniyenko, and Volkov in March 2016; they could not return on Soyuz TMA-16M due to the 200-day orbital lifespan of a Soyuz. Padalka, Mogensen, and Aimbetov departed from the ISS on September 11, 2015, and landed in Kazakhstan in Soyuz TMA-16M.

Expedition 45 began on September 11, 2015, when Padalka transferred command of the station to Kelly. On October 28, 2015, Kelly and Lindgren performed an EVA to service the Canada Arm 2, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, and to install cables for the International Docking Adapter for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. Kelly and Lindgren performed a second EVA on November 6, 2015, to service the ammonia cooling system on the P6 truss. Expedition 46 began on December 11, 2015, with the departure of Soyuz TMA-17M, carrying Lindgren, Kononenko, and Yui.

On December 15, 2015, NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, ESA astronaut Timothy Peake, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko joined Expedition 46 as flight engineers after Soyuz TMA-19M docked with the ISS. On December 21, 2015, Kelly and Kopra performed an unscheduled EVA to release the brake handles on the Mobile Transporter rail car for the Canada Arm 2, which had unexpectedly stopped when it was remotely commanded by the flight controllers. After the successful repair of the Mobile Transporter, the ISS crew was resupplied on December 23, 2015, by the Progress 62 spacecraft. On January 15, 2016, Kopra and Peake performed another EVA and successfully replaced a voltage regulator, but were forced to return early after water began forming inside of Kopra's helmet. On January 8, 2016, Kelly appeared in the thank-you note segment of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with the first ever thank-you note from space. Russian cosmonauts Malenchenko and Volkov conducted an EVA on February 3, 2016, to retrieve experiments and photograph the exterior portions of the Russian segment of the station. On March 1, 2016, Kelly transferred command of the ISS to Kopra, and returned to Earth alongside Korniyenko and Volkov aboard Soyuz TMA-18M. The spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan, and Kelly returned to Houston the following day.

In addition to the biological tests conducted on all astronauts on the station, Kelly also participated in comparative study on the effects of spaceflight with his identical twin Mark as the ground control subject. Kelly's cognitive, and genetic traits were measured before and after the flight. Within several months after returning to Earth, Kelly had adapted to living in gravity. Genetic tests revealed changes in Kelly's gene expression, and an increase in the length of his telomeres relative to before his flight.

Post-NASA career

On March 12, 2016, Kelly announced his retirement from NASA, effective April 1, 2016. In November 2017, a memoir by Kelly was released, called Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery. On June 19, 2018, Kelly spoke at the UNISPACE50+ conference in Vienna, expressing his views on the possibilities of human potential:<blockquote>"After spending a year in space, I was absolutely inspired that if we can dream it, we can do it...and most importantly, if we work as a team, because teamwork makes the dream work. The sky is not the limit."</blockquote>

Personal life

On April 25, 1992, Kelly married for the first time, to Leslie (), whom he had met while stationed in Virginia Beach. His sister-in-law is Gabby Giffords, a former congresswoman from Arizona. In the project, Kelly will help the "Medical Aid" department to collect funds for C-class ambulances. Doctors need several hundred such vehicles, because many ambulances were destroyed during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Awards and honors

Kelly has received these awards and decorations: In 2015, Kelly was listed as one of the [[Time 100|Time 100 Most Influential People

]].

Kelly is an associate fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a member of the Association of Space Explorers. Kelly and Lt. General Mark Hertling, United States Army (retired), tweeted instructions for Russian soldiers to sabotage their T-72 main battle tanks.

On October 27, 2022, Kelly become the ambassador of the United24 (@u24_gov_ua) fundraising platform and will develop the "Medical aid" direction. His first project will be fundraising for Type C ambulance vehicles.

Bibliography

References

External links

August 4, 2010, NASA pre-flight interview with Kelly
October 7, 2010, Soyuz TMA-01M launch video
Spacefacts biography of Scott Kelly