[1]Mark Kelly for Senate

Hey everybody, it’s Mark Kelly.

Tomorrow, I have the honor of being inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

So, I thought I’d take a look back on how I got where I am today.

There are several paths to becoming an astronaut. This was mine:

After high school, I went to the US Merchant Marine Academy where I studied marine engineering and nautical science.

Mark after graduating from the Merchant Marine Academy

Then came flight school. I still remember driving through the gates at the Naval Air Station for the first time with “Danger Zone” playing on the tape deck.

At 23, I became a United States Naval Aviator. I deployed twice on the USS Midway and flew 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm.

Mark with his A-6 Intruder on the USS Midway

It was dangerous. I had a lot of anti-aircraft artillery shot at me and I had a missile blow up next to my airplane. But we successfully completed every mission.

At 32, I was selected as an astronaut (with my twin brother, Scott). I flew my first mission into space in 2001, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Liftoff feels like being on a runaway train going 1,000 miles an hour.

Mark on the International Space Station

Two days later, I took my first step onto the Space Station.

All in all, I spent more than 50 days in space over the course of four missions. That’s a lot of bad space food and hard work.

What I remember most from those four missions are the teams.

Mark training with his shuttle crew

These flights are really hard to do. They’re tiring, full of long days doing technically difficult stuff.

But, I knew I could always rely on them to solve a tough problem and get the job done.

My service in the Navy and at NASA may be behind me, but I’m not done serving our country.

In the Senate, I go to work every day excited to deliver results for the people of Arizona.

And I’m going to keep reminding the American people that there is no nation on earth that can solve tough problems like we can — that we can do incredible things when we put aside our differences and come together.

I’m very proud that you’ve chosen to be a part of this team, friend.

Can’t wait to see what we accomplish next.

— Mark

—————

Wait! Don't go just yet.

If you still have Mark's back, there's something you can do to show him.

Mark doesn’t take a dime of corporate PAC money. Never has. But that means that he depends on small donations from people like you to power his work.

If everyone reading this donated just $25, we’d have enough resources to fund our operations for a full year. And if you’re able to make a recurring monthly donation, we can budget out our plans well in advance. So if that sounds worth $25, please chip in today.

[link removed]

—
 


You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]