Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Former astronaut and International Space Station commander Scott Kelly encouraged Mississippi State students to take on life’s hardest challenges during a Thursday [Feb. 21] lecture on the MSU campus.

Kelly shared stories from his experiences and challenges in space as part of the MSU Student Association’s Global Lecture Series. However, it was his mother who first taught him the importance of working hard toward challenging goals. At a young age, Kelly watched as his mom successfully trained to become the town of West Orange, New Jersey’s first female police officer.

“This was the first time in my life that I saw the power of having this goal that you think you might not possibly be able to achieve, a plan to get there and working really hard at something,” Kelly said.

Kelly went on to earn a degree in engineering and joined the U.S. Navy, where he trained to become a fighter pilot. After initially struggling with landing fighter jets on aircraft carriers, Kelly was given the option to fly cargo planes, an easier task. He decided to improve his ability to fly and land the fighter jets, later going on to pass his training and become a successful pilot.

In 1996, Kelly and his twin brother Mark both were selected by NASA to learn how to fly space shuttles. By December 1999, he was making his first trip to space on a mission to repair the Hubble space telescope.

“It feels like the hand of God is lifting you off that launch pad and throwing you into space,” Kelly said of his first launch.

In 2015 and 2016, Kelly made international headlines by spending a year in outer space on board the International Space Station. The goal of the mission was to better understand how the human body reacts to extended periods in space, which will help scientists prepare for manned missions to Mars. Before leaving on his mission, President Barack Obama challenged Kelly to post photos on Instagram from the ISS. Kelly took him up on the offer and gained millions of followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

After a year in the complex environment of space, Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mihkail Korniyenko returned to Earth.

“The best part about coming home after being in space for a year was knowing that I had just done the hardest thing, hopefully, that I’ll ever have to do in my entire life, and then being able to share that experience with my family, my friends and the general public. Absolutely the best part is the feeling that I did something really, really hard and was successful at what I wanted to accomplish on that mission.”

Kelly said the international cooperation required to build and man the International Space Station is an inspiring example of bringing diverse viewpoints together to achieve a common goal.

“Space flight is the biggest team sport there is,” Kelly said. “There’s nothing we do without being part of a team. With anything we do that’s challenging and hard, teamwork always has to be involved. It’s so incredibly important.

“It wasn’t until I went to NASA that I saw the power of having people that have different experiences, different backgrounds, that come from different places and cultures, and the power that gives us to solve problems. When you have people with different backgrounds, they have different ideas and different solutions. It is a very powerful force.”

Kelly is the author of three books, most recently publishing “Infinite Wonder: An Astronaut’s Photographs from a Year in Space,” a collection of photos from his record-breaking mission. He also has written “Endurance” and “My Journey to the Stars.” For more, visit www.scottkelly.com.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.