NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and others to be inducted at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex – Florida Today
Antonia Jaramillo, Florida Today Published 1:14 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2020
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Veteran NASA astronaut Scott Kelly — who is best known for spending nearly a year on the International Space Station and for spending 520 days in space — will be inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex this May, joined byt Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Pamela A. Melroy
They will join the other 99 astronauts who currently hold the honor as the “First Class of the New Decade.”
An official ceremony and gala will be held May 16, 2020, in front of the Space Shuttle Atlantis at the visitor complex, followed by a black-tie event hosted by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, according to the visitor complex’s press release.
“As we enter the year 2020, we are particularly excited to welcome these accomplished astronauts into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame,” said Curt Brown, space shuttle astronaut and board chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. “They exemplify bravery, dedication and passion and their hard work has paved the way for what promises to be an unprecedented new decade of space exploration and interplanetary travel.”
Kelly, a retired American astronaut and U.S. Navy captain was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 1996. He piloted space shuttle Discovery to the Hubble space telescope in 1999 and commanded space shuttle Endeavor to the ISS in 2007.
His long duration space flight experiences include a 159-day mission in 2010-2011 followed by his record-breaking 340-day mission aboard the space station in 2015.
It was during that year-long mission at the space station where Kelly and his identical twin brother, Mark Kelly — who is also a former NASA astronaut — conducted the NASA “Twins Study.”
During the study, Scott Kelly spent a year in space while Mark Kelly stayed on Earth so scientists could better understand the impacts of spaceflight on a human body by studying identical twins.
What scientists discovered were some of Scott Kelly’s genes had changed, some only temporary, while he was in space.
“The Twins Study demonstrated the resilience and robustness of how a human body can adapt to a multitude of changes induced by the spaceflight environment,” according to NASA. “Findings from the Twins Study may be used to develop new treatments and preventative measures for stress-related health risks on Earth.”
Lopez-Alegria completed four NASA spaceflights and served as commander of the ISS Expedition 14.
He holds the record for most spacewalks conducted, having done 10.
He is currently an independent consultant to traditional and commercial space companies and serves on several advisory boards and committees of public and private institutions.
Melroy was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1995 and has completed three space missions. All three were assembly missions to build the ISS.
“She is one of only two women to command the space shuttle and has logged more than 38 days in space,” according to the press release.
After she retired from NASA in 2009, Melroy served as deputy program manager for the Lockheed Martin Orion Space Exploration Initiatives program and as a director of field operations and acting deputy associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration.
She is currently CEO of Melroy & Hollett Technology Partners and director of space technology and policy at Novy Systems, Pty, in Australia.
Contact Jaramillo at 321-242-3668 or antoniaj@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AntoniaJ_11.
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