[sarex] STS-121 Pilot Mark Kelly: From the Seas to the Skies

[Arthur Rowe <azrowe80@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

COMPLETE STORY:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Mark Kelly became interested in the space program as a child, when he 
watched the first Apollo missions to the moon.

Image right: Kelly walks near the flight line of T-38s at Ellington 
Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA

Kelly was watching footage of astronaut Alan Shepard landing on an 
aircraft carrier when he first began to realize how his dreams could 
become a reality.

"I remember thinking, 'Well, that looks like a great combination. You go 
fly airplanes in the Navy off a ship first, and then later you become an 
astronaut,'" he said. "I never thought it would really happen, but that 
was my goal."

Now he's set to pilot Discovery into space on the next shuttle mission, 
STS-121.
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