Mark Kelly

• 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 former American astronaut. His twin brother Scott is also spaceman.

Childhood and education

Kelly was born in the town of Orange, who grew up and went to school he is in the city a few miles away in West Orange. Kelly left the high school in 1982 and began to study at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. The USMMA, one of the five public U.S. 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 in June 1986 (with distinction).

Then Kelly made ​​a pilot's license, acquired in December 1987 and his license was then transferred to the Naval Air Station Whidbey Iceland in Oak Harbor ( Washington). After a further course on the aircraft type A- 6E " Intruder " he was assigned to the 115th Attack Squadron ( Navy designation VA -115 ). The squadron, which calls itself the " Eagles ", was then stationed in Japan and was used until its decommissioning in 1992 on the aircraft carrier "USS Midway ". During this time the "USS Midway " was summoned twice to the Persian Gulf: From the end of May 1989 flew the " Eagles " for two months escort of Kuwaiti oil tankers. In support of " Operation Desert Shield" during the Second Gulf War, the "USS Midway " in October 1990 again drove into the Persian Gulf. The " Eagles " then flew as part of "Operation Desert Storm" operations against targets in Iraq. The VA -115 flew to the middle of April 1991 a total of 456 combat missions, flew Kelly 39

In July 1991, Kelly went to Monterey in California. At the local Naval Postgraduate School ( NPS), he studied aeronautical engineering and was awarded in October 1992 the Master's degree. As of June 1993, he was twelve months, the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School ( USNTPS ) in Patuxent River ( Maryland) trained as a test pilot. After that, Kelly worked at the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron, located at the USNTPS, and worked on the modification of several types of aircraft for their use on aircraft carriers.

Astronauts activity

Kelly was a flight instructor at the USNTPS when NASA chose him in 1996 for the 16th astronaut group. He was one of the total of 2,432 candidates who met the formal selection criteria. It emerged 123 finalists who visited between October 1995 and February 1996, the Johnson Space Center in Houston to conduct interviews and to be medically examined. Kelly turned to the second group of finalists before the beginning of November 1995, the selection committee.

For the first time in the history of NASA Gemini came in the final round of 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.

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

Mark Kelly was employed after his basic training for shuttle pilots from the autumn of 1998 in the computer department of the Astronaut Office.

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). Main task was the replacement of the ISS Crew: The three -man 4 crew started with the Endeavour crew, triggering 3 from. This, also consists of three astronauts made ​​, returned after four months back at the station to Earth. Kelly drove together with his commander Dominic Gorie the space shuttle. He also operated the robot arm ( RMS ) of the Shuttle: As a Mission Specialist Daniel Tani and Linda Godwin performed an outboard activity, Kelly was to assist to the RMS controls to. It was also he who docked the Raffaello multi-purpose module at the beginning of the flight to the ISS and just before returning stowed back in the payload bay. The mission went to twelve days to an end.

STS -121

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

Half a year after the Columbia crash Kelly was assigned to early December 2003 a new mission. Instead of STS -119, he was to fly as pilot on STS -121. This mission was also recorded by STS -107 to the flight manifest. Since Kelly's flight STS -119 should be carried out much later, but were not as many trained astronauts available at the time, he was assigned to STS -121. This flight was performed after several postponements in July 2006. Main tasks were once prove that the angegangenen after STS- 107 and STS -114 Space Shuttle improvements to the work and secondly, to supply the ISS with goods and to increase their two -man crew by another crew member. Thus, since the ISS Expedition 6, three astronauts were again working on the station. In addition, the shuttle crew conducted three extravehicular activities through before the flight came to an end after two weeks.

STS -124

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

STS -134

On August 11, 2009 Kelly was nominated for the shuttle mission STS- 134. This flight took place on May 16, 2011. Since his wife was seriously injured in an assassination attempt, was temporarily uncertain whether Kelly would actually participate in the mission. As a possible replacement Rick Sturckow was nominated. However, Kelly was able to take his place again, and under his command launched the Space Shuttle Endeavour on 16 May 2011 at their last flight. The landing took place on 1 June 2011.

According to the NASA

On June 21, 2011 Kelly announced that he will leave NASA and the Navy on 1 October 2011.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted on the basis of the Order of Precedence of Military Awards:

• Defense Superior Service Medal (2 × )
• Legion of Merit
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Air Medal (4 × )
• Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2 × )
• Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal
• Navy Unit Commendation (2 × )
• National Defense Service Medal (2 × )
• Southwest Asia Service Medal (2 × )

Private

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

Works

• With Gabrielle Giffords and Jeffrey Zaslow: Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. Scribner, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4516-6106-4.