NASA Career
Selected by NASA in April 1996, Kelly reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. On completion of training, he was assigned to technical duties in the Astronaut Office Spacecraft Systems/Operations Branch.
Kelly was assigned to flight status on NASA's Space Shuttle program, officially designated Space Transportation System, or STS. After Kelly's first flight on STS-103 he served as NASA’s Director of Operations in Star City, Russia. Kelly was a back-up crew member for ISS Expedition 5. He also served as the Astronaut Office Space Station Branch Chief.
In September 2002, Kelly served as the commander of the NEEMO 4 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, four miles off shore from Key Largo. Kelly and his crewmates spent five days saturation diving from Aquarius as a space analogue for working and training under extreme environmental conditions. The mission was delayed due to Hurricane Isadore, forcing National Undersea Research Center (NURC) managers to shorten it to an underwater duration of five days. Then, three days into their underwater mission, the crew members were told that Tropical Storm Lili was headed in their direction and to prepare for an early departure from Aquarius. Fortunately, Lili degenerated to the point where it was no longer a threat, so the crew was able to remain the full five days. In April 2005, Kelly was a crew member on the NEEMO 8 mission.
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