Page 8 - The Edge - Back to School 2017

SUMMER CONFERENCE AND EXPO

BY DON HARRIS

Ex-Astronaut Mark Kelly Tells of His Wife’s

Near-Fatal Experience and Life in Space

Former astronaut Mark Kelly mixed humor with the most airstrip,” he said, noting that he was alone in the plane. “No one is
devastating of human emotions, recalling the day his wife Gabrielle crazy enough to go with you. e ship looks like a postage stamp.”
Gi ords su ered a critical brain injury and what it’s like to get A er three touch-and-go attempts, he successfully lowered a
propelled into space. hook that grabs wires and brings the plane to a halt. “It’s literally
Kelly, the keynote speaker at AASBO’s Summer Conference and like being in a crash in a car,” Kelly said. “You go from 150 miles an
Expo on July 21, related his stunned feelings when cable news rst hour to zero in about 150 feet in a couple of seconds.”
reported, erroneously, that Gi ords, a member of Congress from A erward at a debrie ng the instructor pilot asked Kelly: “Are
southern Arizona, had died in a 2011 assassination attempt. Having you sure this career is for you?”
own four space missions and even dodged enemy missiles over But Kelly didn’t give up. He told of his rst combat mission over
Iraq in a jet ghter, Kelly nevertheless has maintained a ne-tuned Iraq in 1991, in which his bombardier/navigator was a graduate
sense of humor. from the University of California at Berkeley. “He was probably the
He told of growing up in New Jersey, where his father was a only person from Berkeley to go to a military school,” Kelly said.
tough Irish detective and subsequently After entering Iraqi airspace and
his mother became a police o cer as well. heading for his target, Kelly’s plane
His mother overcame multiple obstacles, encountered anti-aircra re. He told of
including her size (Kelly said she was Winston Churchill’s comment that there is
4-feet, 13 inches tall), rigorous physical nothing more exciting than being shot at in
tests, and the fact that few women were on combat. “And, missed,” Kelly added. “ e
the force at that time. Her dedication led missed part is kind of important.”
Kelly to see the bene t of having a goal, Kelly said the worst feeling he ever had
planning and hard work. From then on he at that point was to see a missile coming at
did better in school. his plane. He piloted away from it in the
Kelly drove an ambulance in a nick of time. “You know what’s worse than
tough section of Orange, New Jersey, seeing that rst missile? Kelly said. “Seeing
in 1965, and came in contact with a a second one.”
young man who had been shot seven Again Kelly evaded a killer missile and
times, including once in the head. at eventually landed safely on a U.S. aircra
experience became part of his personal carrier in the Persian Gulf.
life years later when he rst learned of Former astronaut Mark Kelly addresses attendees at Kelly thought his job was risky, but his
his wife’s injury. AASBO’s Summer Conference and Expo on July 21. wife barely survived serving her country.
Recalling Gi ords’ early life, Kelly said, He mixed humor, recalled the day his wife Gabrielle at day is riveted in his memory. It was
“Gabby was over achiever. She went to a Giffords suffered a critical brain injury and described a Saturday, January 8, 2011. Kelly was at
what it’s like to get propelled into space.
school for the gi ed. In New Jersey, we his home in Houston, and had spoken
hated those kids.” with Gi ords by phone shortly before she was going to a Safeway
He mentioned that Gi ords had been a Fulbright scholar, ran a parking lot in the Tucson metropolitan area for a meet-and-greet
family business, raced motorcycles for a hobby, was a state senator with constituents. A bit later his phone rang. It was Gabby’s chief of
and wanted to serve in Congress. sta , telling him his wife had been shot.
“She had serious goals,” Kelly said. “I had a lo y goal myself. I A er he hung up, stunned, he wondered, “Did I just get that
was going to be the rst person to walk on the planet Mars.” phone call? I called her back and she gave me the really devastating
He didn’t get to Mars, but he did soar into space four times. news. Gabby was shot in the head.”
“If you think that’s impressive, just think how impressed the aliens e young man who had been shot in the head in New Jersey
were when I told them I had visited the planet Earth ve times. years earlier came back to him in a ash. “I realized it would be the
ey were really impressed.” biggest challenge in both of our lives,” Kelly said.
A year a er he became a Navy pilot, Kelly had to land a jet ghter
on an aircra carrier for the rst time. “I could barely land on an CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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