Background and career
Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician and a retired astronaut and naval officer. He is the senior United States senator from Arizona, a seat he has held since 2020. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Kelly flew combat missions during the Gulf War as a naval aviator before being selected as a NASA Space Shuttle pilot in 1996. His identical twin brother, Scott Kelly, also became a NASA astronaut that year. Mark flew his first space mission in 2001 as pilot of STS-108, then piloted STS-121 in 2006, and commanded STS-124 in 2008 and STS-134 (the final mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour) in 2011. In January 2011, Kelly's wife, then-Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords, was shot and nearly killed in an assassination attempt in Arizona. Kelly retired from the Navy and NASA that October. In 2013, Kelly and Giffords founded a nonprofit political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions (later merged into Giffords), which campaigned for gun control measures like universal background checks.
Kelly was first elected to the Senate in a 2020 special election triggered by the death of Senator John McCain. He defeated incumbent Republican Martha McSally in the general election, becoming the first Democrat to win the seat since 1962. Kelly was reelected to a full term in 2022.
Mark Kelly was born on February 21, 1964, in Orange, New Jersey, and raised in West Orange, New Jersey. He and his identical twin brother, Scott Kelly, are sons of Richard and Patricia (née McAvoy) Kelly, both police officers. Kelly is of Irish, Polish, and English descent. Kelly graduated from Mountain High School in 1982. In 1986, he took highest honors in a marine engineering and nautical science BSc from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. In 1994, he received a MSc in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
In December 1987, Kelly became a naval aviator and received initial training on the Grumman A-6E Intruder attack aircraft. He was then assigned to Attack Squadron 115 (VA-115) at NAF Atsugi in Kanagawa, Japan. He was deployed twice with VA-115 to the Persian Gulf aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway, which was homeported at Naval Station Yokosuka in Yokosuka, Japan. During Operation Desert Storm, Kelly flew 39 combat missions. After the Gulf War, Kelly received his master's degree and then attended U.S. Naval Test Pilot School from 1993 to 1994. As a naval aviator and test pilot, he has logged over 5,000 hours in more than 50 different aircraft and trapped over 375 carrier landings. During his Navy career, Kelly received two Defense Superior Service Medals; one Legion of Merit; two Distinguished Flying Crosses; four Air Medals (two individual/two strike flight) with Combat "V"; two Navy Commendation Medals, (one with combat "V"); one Navy Achievement Medal; two Southwest Asia Service Medals; one Navy Expeditionary Medal; two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons; a NASA Distinguished Service Medal; and an Overseas Service Ribbon. On June 21, 2011, Kelly announced his retirement from both the Navy and NASA, effective October 1, citing Gabby Giffords's needs during her recovery from the attempt on her life that January.
NASA selected both Kelly and his identical twin, Scott Kelly, to be Space Shuttle pilots in 1996. They joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in August of that year. They are the only siblings to have both traveled into orbit.
Kelly's first trip into space was as pilot of STS-108. After several delays, Endeavour lifted off on December 5, 2001, on the final Shuttle mission of 2001. STS-108 Endeavour visited the ISS, delivering over three tons of equipment, supplies, and a fresh crew to the orbiting outpost. The hatches were opened between Endeavour and the ISS Destiny Laboratory on December 7, enabling the 10 crew members to greet one another. The Expedition 3 crew officially ended their 117-day residency on board the ISS on December 8 as their custom Soyuz seat-liners were transferred to Endeavour for the return trip home. The transfer of the Expedition 4 seat-liners to the Soyuz return vehicle attached to the station marked the official exchange of crews. Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin used the shuttle's robotic arm to lift the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle payload bay and attach it to a berth on the station's Unity node. The crews began unloading supplies the same day. Mission managers extended Endeavour's flight duration to 12 days to allow the crew to assist with additional maintenance tasks on the station, including work on a treadmill and replacing a failed compressor in one of the air conditioners in the Zvezda Service Module. A change of command ceremony took place on December 13 as Expedition 3 ended and Expedition 4 began. STS-108 returned to Earth with the previous ISS crew of three men. Kelly traveled over 4.8 million miles and orbited the Earth 186 times over 11 days and 19+ hours.
