Former NASA astronaut and now Arizona senator, Mark Kelly, is on the short list to potentially become Vice President Harris’ running mate. As head of the National Space Council, his potential nomination has spurred some excitement in the spaceflight community.
Over the weekend several potential running mates met with Harris at her residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington DC. Among those was former naval aviator, Space Shuttle commander, and current US Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly.
Kelly’s career at NASA couldn’t be described as anything but extraordinary. Flying on four Shuttle missions, piloting two and commanding the other two, Kelly became a trusted and talented astronaut. Even after the attempted assassination of his wife Gabby Giffords, he was able to stay on as commander of STS-134. Giffords’ needs during recovery would lead to his retirement from both NASA and the Navy in 2011.
Alongside his twin brother, Scott, the two helped study the long term affects of staying in space. In 2015 and 2016, Scott Kelly spent nearly an entire year in space along side a Russian counterpart. With the unique situation, Mark was used in the study to compare his body to his brothers during and after the mission.
After his NASA career ended, Kelly went on to do what most former astronauts do: write books, do speeches, and advise aerospace companies. Kelly began to dip his toes into politics formally in 2013 with the creation of the political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions, which promotes solutions to gun violence.
Kelly’s stint in the Senate began when he announced his intent to run in Arizona’s 2020 special election to fill the vacant seat after the death of Senator John McCain. He ended up winning the election and then won reelection for a full term in 2022.
During his time in the Senate Kelly hasn’t made himself too known for strong space advocacy, instead he gained a coveted position of the Armed Services Committee. However, the thought of a former astronaut having a important role in crafting the nation’s space policy would be a welcomed change to previous career politicians.
The National Space Council was reinstated during the Trump Administration and chaired by VP Mike Pence who was passionate in the position. Harris’ tenure has been less than inspiring, however she led the charge to halt tests of anti-satelite systems by the US and allies.
We won’t know if this will change if Kelly is selected to be the Democrat’s VP pick, and if Harris can secure the Presidency. However, the hope is there.
Kelly supposedly met with Harris Sunday. The same day a post was sent on his X account that seemed to share that he is no longer in the running for VP and his focus will be in Arizona. However, that post has sense been deleted and replaced with a more generic version.
As of publication, Kelly is still believed to be on the running mate shortlist.
Lets talk politics for a second
We don’t often bring up politics here but with it being an election year for our nation’s chief executive, it’s going to have to come up from time to time.
The question on many people’s minds that are space focused single issue voters is which candidate will be better for the industry.
Trump’s four years was probably the best four years for NASA’s lunar return program. It officially got a name, the Artemis Program, great funding, and a long list of contracts and treaties that make pulling out at this point hard to do. However, the program has been ripe with delays, over costs, and can be seen as falling apart by the seems in every recent GAO report.
However, the Biden-Harris Administration did probably the simplest and most effective policy in recent decades for NASA’s programs: Don’t change anything. Many of the missions that NASA was working on to get Artemis up and going have stayed on and funded. While getting NASA’s its much needed budget increase has been difficult, Congress has made getting most federal agencies needed increases extremely hard.
Space Explored attempts to stay politically neutral and won’t throw support behind any political candidate. Vote your conscious this fall. No matter who wins, they will bring changes, however, both candidates have a history of supporting the current state of NASA’s spaceflight goals.
