NASA Selects UA Alumnus as Space Shuttle Pilot

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ‚ NASA has selected a University of Alabama graduate as a pilot on an upcoming space shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

James Kelly, who earned his master’s degree in aerospace engineering from UA in 1996, will fly aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during a 2001 flight, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced. He is UA’s first astronaut.

This will be the first space mission for Kelly, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. The mission’s objectives include replacing the space station’s crew members and performing two space station assembly spacewalks.

Kelly, a former military test pilot, earned his master’s degree at UA through a video-based distance learning program known as QUEST (Quality University Extended Site Telecourses). In QUEST, classes at UA are videotaped and those tapes are forwarded to students. Proctors are present during testing to protect the integrity of the program. Kelly’s first trip to campus was for a special ceremony where he was awarded his degree.

“It’s the only way I could have earned a master’s degree while still doing my job as a military test pilot,” Kelly said in an earlier interview.

More than 2,400 people applied for NASA’s 1996 astronaut class, and Kelly was one of only 35 members and one of only 10 pilots selected.

Contact

Chris Bryant, Assistant Director of Media Relations, 205/348-8323

Source

Dr. Michael Freeman, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics and one of Kelly's UA professors, 205/348-7304.