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Sarasota News Leader March 15, 2013 Monday, March 11, at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota as part of the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall 2013 lecture series. He also touched on the subject during the question-and-answer session at the completion of his prepared remarks. Perhaps best known as an American astronaut and the husband of Giffords, Kelly is also a retired U.S. Navy captain who flew combat missions during the first Gulf War, a best-selling author and a cancer survivor. With the dream of becoming an astronaut, Kelly devised a plan to achieve his goal. After graduation from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1986, he entered training as a naval aviator and then as a navy pilot before being selected as an astronaut in 1996. He said he did not begin as a stellar student, but "how good you are at the beginning is not an indicator of how good you can become." Page 41 a single runway at Canaveral with water on both sides. A highlight of his career was attending the 50th anniversary celebration of John Glenn's orbital flight, where he was seated between Neil Armstrong, a role model, and Glenn. Kelly also has had an illustrious career. Among the awards he has received are the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Defense Superior Service Medals. He has visited the International Space Station on four missions, one of only two individuals to do so. Interestingly, his first flight was aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2001, the same craft he commanded on its final flight in May 2011. Presented with a portrait painted by Ringling College senior Audrey Gonzalez, Kelly noted one of the patches on his jacket was "from [his] second flight as pilot on [the shuttle] Discovery." He plans to hang the painting in his Kelly described the most awe-inspiring sight den alongside one of his wife. beyond the reach of the planet as seeing the Currently Kelly is a consultant for SpaceX, Earth as a "big blue marble" floating in the the company that "not only takes cargo to the blackness of space, and he commented that International Space Station, but can bring it looking down from that vantage point, one home." He is optimistic about the future of "can't really see borders" of the various coun- space exploration and the role of private entries. terprise. "Ultimately we have this plan to go Kelly told the audience flying in space is "com- to Mars. We can land somebody on Mars now plicated and dangerous." He presented inter- [but] we can't get them back." esting details of space flight. Liftoff — and, no, Kelly said, the astronauts do not hear that word so familiar to the rest of us "but we know when it happens" — feels like "a runaway train" zooming down the track. The International Space Station is about the size of a football field, he added. The "space shuttle is a glider for landing" and it comes down on The lecture series is a fundraising event for the Ringling College Library Association, which is assisting the College in its capital campaign for a new library to support the needs of its 1,400 students. Its students and graduates are the recipients of numerous awards, including the prestigious Oscars presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. %