IDENTICAL TWINS HEADED FOR SPACE STATION
Baku, September 16 (AZERTAC). In a cosmic twist of fate, two identical twins will follow each other into orbit next year during NASA`s final planned shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly of West Orange, N.J., are a pair of veteran NASA astronauts and captains in the U.S. Navy.
In October, Scott will launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to begin a six-month tour of duty on the International Space Station. While he`s there, his brother plans to visit aboard the last officially scheduled space shuttle mission, the STS-134 flight of Endeavour in February 2011. That mission is currently planned to be NASA`s final shuttle mission before the orbiter fleet is retired.
"We`re looking forward to flying together," Mark Kelly told SPACE.com. "It`s not expected. We`re hopeful that this works out."
The astronauts said they had been surprised and thrilled to both be chosen to join NASA.
The brothers` missions are coming at a landmark time for the space program. Mark Kelly`s shuttle flight will be the second of NASA`s two final scheduled missions, though there is a chance one more will be added before the shuttles are retired. Discovery will fly to the space station in November, followed by the Endeavour crew next year.
NASA is retiring its three-shuttle fleet to make way for a new goal, to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025.
The space agency has been flying space shuttles since 1981. Once they retire, NASA will rely on Russian, European and Japanese vehicles to fly cargo and crews to the space station until commercially built American vehicles are available.
Other news in this section
