Mark Kelly

Mark Kelly earned a B.S. in marine engineering and nautical science from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. His Senate biography says that as a Navy pilot he made multiple deployments on the aircraft carrier USS Midway and flew 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, and that he retired from the Navy with the rank of captain.

He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1996. According to his Senate biography, the first of his four trips into space was as pilot of STS-108 in December 2001, and he retired from NASA in 2011 after commanding Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight.

Kelly was sworn in as a senator on December 2, 2020, the date the Senate records for the start of his service; the seat had been held by the appointed senator Martha McSally until that day. He serves on the Armed Services, Environment and Public Works, Intelligence and Aging committees and the Joint Economic Committee.