The Kelly Astronaut Twins' Spaceflight History, by the Numbers

NASA Astronaut Twins: Scott and Mark Kelly
Scott Kelly (left) and his identical twin brother Mark at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on March 26, 2015, shortly before Scott launched on a one-year mission to the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Former NASA astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly will be honored by their hometown of West Orange, New Jersey, today (May 19). You can watch a livestream of the dedication ceremony on the West Orange Public Schools' Facebook page.

The Kelly brothers — the only set of twins ever to fly in space — will receive "Mayoral Medals," and the elementary school they attended (currently called Pleasantdale Elementary) will be renamed after them during a ceremony in West Orange. Scott Kelly recently returned to Earth in March, ending a nearly yearlong mission to the International Space Station. Mark, who retired from NASA in 2011 (Scott retired last month), helped scientists on Earth during the mission by participating in NASA's Twins Study, an unprecedented project that meticulously monitored the identical twins to see exactly how the human body changes during ultralong space missions.

Here's a brief rundown of the identical twins' spaceflight history, along with a biographical tidbit or two.

"Return to Flight" mission flown, after loss of space shuttle Columbia: 1 (Mark, STS-121)

Editor's note: Space.com and its partner collectSPACE.com are media supporters of the Pleasantdale Elementary School renaming ceremony to honor the Kelly astronaut brothers.

Elizabeth Howell
Former Staff Writer, Spaceflight (July 2022-November 2024)

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.