Astronaut Biography: Scott J. Kelly

Astronaut Biography: Scott J. Kelly
NASA astronaut Scott J. Kelly, a U.S. Navy commander, poses for a portrait in his ascent/entry spacesuit. (Image credit: NASA.)

NAME: Scott J.Kelly (Commander, U.S. Navy)
NASAAstronaut

PERSONALDATA: Born February21, 1964 in Orange, New Jersey. Married to the former Leslie S. Yandell ofAtlanta, Georgia. They have two children. His parents, Richard and PatriciaKelly, reside in Flagler Beach, Florida.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Mountain HighSchool, West Orange, New Jersey, in 1982; received a bachelor of science degreein electrical engineering from the State University of New York MaritimeCollege in 1987, and a master of science degree in aviation systems from theUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1996.

ORGANIZATIONS: Associate Fellow, Society ofExperimental Test Pilots and Member, The Association of Space Explorers.

AWARDS: Defense Superior Service Medal,Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, 2 Navy Unit Commendations,National Defense Service Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Kuwait LiberationMedal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA ExceptionalService Medal, Korolev Diploma from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale,1999.

EXPERIENCE: Kelly received his commission fromthe State University of New York Maritime College in May 1987, and wasdesignated a naval aviator in July 1989 at Naval Air Station (NAS) Beeville,Texas.

He thenreported to Fighter Squadron 101 at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, forinitial F-14 Tomcat training. Upon completion of this training, he was assignedto Fighter Squadron 143 and made overseas deployments to the North Atlantic,Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower(CVN-69). Kelly was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School inJanuary 1993 and completed training in June 1994.

Aftergraduation, he worked as a test pilot at the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron,Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, flyingthe F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet. Kelly was the first pilot to fly an F-14with an experimental digital flight control system installed and performedsubsequent high angle of attack and departure testing.

Kelly haslogged over 3,700 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft and has over250 carrier landings.

NASAEXPERIENCE:Selected by NASA in April 1996, Kelly reported to the Johnson Space Center inAugust 1996.

Followingcompletion of training, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office SpacecraftSystems/Operations Branch. He served as space shuttle pilot on STS-103 in1999 and has logged over 191 hours in space. Following STS-103, Kelly served asNASA?s Director of Operations in Star City, Russia.

He servedas a back-up crewmember for ISSExpedition 5 and more recently, as the Astronaut Office Space StationBranch Chief. Scott Kelly is currently assigned and training as the commanderof STS-118,an assembly mission to the International SpaceStation scheduled to launch on August 7, 2007.

SPACEFLIGHT EXPERIENCE:STS-103 (December 19-27, 1999) was an eight-day mission during which the crewsuccessfully installed new instruments and upgraded systems on the Hubble Space Telescope(HST). Enhancing HST scientific capabilities required three space walks. TheSTS-103 mission was accomplished in 120 Earth orbits, traveling 3.2 millionmiles in 191 hours and 11 minutes.

LastUpdated: July 2007

  • IMAGES: STS-103 Hubble Repair Mission
  • NASA's STS-118: Teaching the Future Through ISS Assembly
  • SPACE.com VIDEO Interplayer: Space Station Construction with STS-117
  • Complete Space Shuttle Mission Coverage

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