Scott and Mark Kelly: the space twins

Next February, for the first time, twin brothers could find themselves together in orbit around the Earth.

 

Scott (left) and Mark Kelly photographed together in 2008 at NASA’s Johnson Center in Houston. Credit: NASA

This is just the luck of the calendar as Scott and Mark Kelly never imagined that they could one day find themselves in space at the same time despite their similar career paths. And yet, the various changes that have been made to the schedule for NASA’s space shuttle flights should mean that Mark Kelly will pay his brother Scott a visit next February.

Fated to cross one another in space
The Kelly brothers were born on 21 February 1964 in New Jersey, United States. And, as with all twins, it is fun to highlight their resemblances, the most impressive probably being their careers as test pilots and their selection by NASA, both in the same year, 1996. And because of their similar abilities, they wanted to be space shuttle pilots, and eventually commanders... which is what happened! Scott Kelly became the first of the siblings to blast off into orbit with STS-103 mission to the Hubble space telescope in December 1999. He held the position of pilot. His brother Mark then carried on, also as pilot, with STS-108 mission to the International Space Station in December 2001. In July 2006, he was pilot once again on flight STS-121, also to the International Space Station. One year and one month later, in August 2007, it was his twin brother Scott’s turn to blast off from Florida’s Kennedy Center to the Station in order to carry out STS-118 mission (the flight numbers do not necessarily follow the final chronological order) as Commander. The following year, in May 2008, Mark Kelly became Commander for STS-124 mission (flight details can be found in the Find out more section at the end of this article).

Scott Kelly, who flew before his brother in 1999, was not however the first twin to go into space. He was preceded by astronaut Charles Duke (NASA portrait taken at the time and in 2010) who walked on the Moon in 1972 during Apollo 16 mission. His twin, William Duke, is now a retired doctor who has never gone into orbit. Scott and Mark Kelly are however the first twins to both go up into space but never, as yet, at the same time. Credit: NASA

Fated to meet on board the ISS
Clearly, although Scott and Mark work for NASA as astronauts, they have never gone up into space together, but have crossed one another throughout their respective missions. Moreover, a possible joint space flight has never been one of the twins’ priorities. In this respect, in 1999, Mark Kelly clearly stated on Twinstuff.com, a website devoted to twins: “I was hired to do a job for NASA. My personal interests do not influence my professional duties as an astronaut”. It is amusing to note that to start with the Kelly brothers were meant to “miss one another” in orbit yet again, both going to the ISS in 2010... but not being there together!

American Scott Kelly (left) is to blast off to the ISS on 8 October 2010 with his Russian colleagues Alexandre Kaleri (middle) and Oleg Skripochka (right) aboard a Soyuz vessel (flight TMA-01M). Credit: NASA

Mark Kelly was appointed Commander of space shuttle mission STS-134, tasked with taking the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a detector of antimatter, to the International Space Station. The original date for blasting off was in July 2010. Whereas, Scott Kelly was meant to blast off to the ISS in a Russian Soyuz vessel at the end of the same year, which would have been much too late to hope to meet up with his brother at an altitude of 400 km above the Earth. But then the space shuttle schedule was reorganised, pushing flight STS-134 back to 26 February 2011. If this date is maintained, two brothers – twins what’s more – will be together in orbit for the first time in the history of human space flight. And they will each be Commander of their respective missions!

Mark Kelly (middle) is to take command of space shuttle flight STS-134 which is to deliver the AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) experiment to the ISS. Blast-off is scheduled on 26 February 2011 and the mission should last 10 days. It is possible that he will meet up with his brother Scott in space as the latter is not due to return to Earth until 16 March 2011. Worthy of note is the fact that a member of the crew with Italian nationality, ESA’s astronaut Roberto Vittori (right), will be the last European to fly aboard an American space shuttle. Credit: NASA

Scott Kelly is to blast off with a Soyuz vessel to the ISS on 8 October 2010 with two Russian colleagues (Alexandre Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka). All three will form part of Expedition 25 (see this Editor’s blog) together with three astronauts already on board the Station: Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin. At the end of November, beginning of December 2010, the latter three will return to Earth and three new crew members will arrive, this will mark the beginning of Expedition 26 under the command of Scott Kelly. His brother Mark will then pay him a visit with flight STS-134 on space shuttle Endeavour towards the end of February in order to install the previously mentioned Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer as planned. This American space plane mission is due to last ten or so days and he will then return to our planet at the very beginning of March (around 8 March 2011), arriving one week before Scott who with two colleagues aboard a Soyuz rocket is to land on the Kazakhstan planes on 16 March 2011. Obviously the schedule is tight if this meeting of the “space twins” is to take place in orbit. This first will clearly depend on the flight dates, especially those of the space shuttles, being upheld. But if this was to be the case, an already remarkable story would become even more so!

Update: The Kelly brothers will not now meet up in orbit as the blast-off of mission STS-134 has been postponed until April 2011.


Published on 8 September 2010