Mark Kelly

Kelly was married to Amelia Victoria Babis from 1989 to 2004, and they have two daughters, Claudia and Claire Kelly. He has been married to Arizona politician Gabby Giffords since 2007. Kelly and Giffords met during a 2003 trade mission to China sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Giffords was shot in an assassination attempt in Tucson in January 2011. Kelly traveled from Houston to Tucson and remained at her bedside during her initial recovery and rehabilitation. He cited Giffords's recovery as a reason for retiring from the Navy and NASA in October 2011.

Kelly graduated from Mountain High School in 1982 and received a bachelor's degree in marine engineering and nautical science from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1986, graduating with highest honors. He earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1994.

He became a naval aviator in 1987 and trained on the A-6E Intruder attack aircraft. Assigned to Attack Squadron 115 in Japan, he made two Persian Gulf deployments aboard USS Midway and flew 39 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. He later attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and logged more than 5,000 hours in over 50 aircraft, along with more than 375 carrier landings.

Kelly retired as a Navy captain in 2011. His military and NASA honors include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medals, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

NASA selected Kelly and his identical twin brother, Scott Kelly, as members of its astronaut corps in 1996. They became the only siblings who have both traveled into orbit. Kelly's first spaceflight was STS-108 aboard Endeavour in 2001, a mission that delivered equipment, supplies, and a new crew to the International Space Station.

He piloted STS-121 aboard Discovery in 2006. The mission was the second shuttle flight after the loss of Columbia and tested inspection and repair techniques intended to improve shuttle safety while delivering supplies and astronaut Thomas Reiter to the International Space Station.

STS-124 in 2008 was Kelly's first mission as commander. Discovery delivered the largest component of Japan's Kibo laboratory and its robotic manipulator system to the station. Kelly later commanded STS-134, Endeavour's final mission, which launched in May 2011 and delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a cosmic particle detector, to the International Space Station. STS-124 also marked the first time a spouse of a member of Congress traveled into space, because Giffords was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kelly and Giffords coauthored Gabby: A Story of Courage, Love and Resilience in 2011, describing their lives and Giffords's recovery after the Tucson shooting. Kelly also wrote Mousetronaut: Based on a (Partially) True Story, a children's book that became a New York Times number-one bestseller, followed by Mousetronaut Goes to Mars.

Kelly and Giffords later coauthored Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence. In 2013, they founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, a political action committee that promoted gun-safety measures including universal background checks. The organization merged with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in 2016 and became Giffords.

Kelly co-wrote the children's books Astrotwins: Project Blastoff and Astrotwins: Project Rescue with Martha Freeman. He also worked in aerospace as a co-founder and strategic adviser to World View Enterprises and served on SpaceX's independent safety advisory panel.

Kelly announced his Senate campaign in 2019 as a Democrat and defeated Republican Martha McSally in Arizona's 2020 special election. He took office on December 2, 2020, after the vacancy created by John McCain's death. His election made him the first Democrat to win that Senate seat since 1962, and he was reelected to a full term in 2022.

In the Senate, Kelly has served on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees and has emphasized military, border, water, and infrastructure issues. He co-sponsored bipartisan legislation on law-enforcement de-escalation training, ocean shipping, human trafficking, radiation compensation, and border interdiction procedures. In 2023, President Joe Biden signed three bills connected to water rights and infrastructure for Arizona tribes that Kelly introduced with Kyrsten Sinema.

Kelly has described himself as a moderate and has voiced support for bipartisanship. His positions include supporting abortion rights, climate action without endorsing the Green New Deal, an Affordable Care Act public option, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and federal gun-safety legislation.