Democrat Mark Kelly, re-elected Senator in Arizona, became the fourth astronaut to hold a seat in the US Congress. Defeating Republican rival Blake Masters, President Joe Biden’s party is just one seat away from gaining a majority in the Senate. In Nevada, where the counting continues, and Georgia, whose runoff is scheduled for December 6, vacancies are still missing.
Kelly, a Navy veteran and former astronaut, was selected as a NASA space shuttle pilot in 1996 and spent 54 days in space. He commanded his last mission aboard Endeavor in 2011.
Science experiment with twin brother who is also an astronaut. In 2015, he participated in an interesting experiment. The twin brother of Scott Kelly, who is also a NASA astronaut, stayed on Earth while Scott was en route to the International Space Station (ISS), subject to zero gravity. The duo were followed by researchers for a year to analyze the impact of space flights on the human body and mind.
During and after his stay in space, Scott exhibited a variety of symptoms related to aging, cognitive loss, changes in gene expression, vascular changes, differences in immune responses, and decreased vision. The current senator had neither of these effects, causing the researchers to rule out the possibility that they were a natural reflection of age.
The re-elected senator has already been to space four times as an astronaut.
Abortion defense. During his campaign, Mark Kelly advocated for the right to abortion, protecting social security and reducing drug prices.
Republican Blake Masters, who ran for Senate against Kelly, took a hardline stance against abortion and supported a racist “Great Shift” theory popular with nationalists that Democrats were trying to use immigration to replace the white population in the United States.
Restriction on weapons after an attack on a spouse. The former astronaut has been fighting for responsible gun ownership since his wife, former congressman Gabby Giffords, was involved in an assassination attempt in 2011. killed and 13 more injured.
He resigned from his seat in Congress the following year. The couple later formed an organization advocating restrictions on firearms to combat gun violence.
source: Noticias
