Later, after flying in the Navy for four or five years, spending some time on an aircraft carrier, I applied to and was accepted in a program where I went to graduate school first and then to the Naval Test Pilots School.

In an interview filmed just over a week after the shooting Kelly said "She has Tombstone Arizona in her district the town that's too tough to die. In response to a question on February 4 regarding the discussions about civility in politics Kelly said: "I haven’t spent a lot of time following that but I think that with something that was so horrible and so negative and the fact that six people lost their lives including a nine-year old girl a federal judge Gabby’s staff member Gabe—who was like a younger brother to her—it’s really really a sad situation. After several delays Endeavour lifted off on December 5 2001 on the final Shuttle mission of 2001.

Kelly's identical twin brother Scott Kelly is also an astronaut and served as commander of International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 26. Navy Captain. His wife was the target of an attempted assassination in Tucson Arizona on January 8 2011.