An American NASA astronaut and former F-14 fighter jet pilot, Scott Kelly is known not only for his four trips to space, but also setting the world record for total time spent there, clocking in at 520 days, 10 hours, and 33 minutes. That also includes another world record of his — 340 days of uninterrupted time in orbit.
Kelly immortalized his space adventures through NFTs, in an art series titled “Dreams Out of This World.” They were auctioned off on the 12th of April 2022, being bought out in a matter of hours. The $500,000 in profits was donated by Kelly to help Ukraine.
“Putin’s war crimes and the russian people’s support or indifference of them has doomed Russia to a very bleak future,” Kelly wrote on Twitter. The astronaut has become well-known as one of the most resolute critics of russian aggression for his witty, and often bitingly sarcastic, posts. They’re sometimes written in russian — a language Kelly studied for his flights to the ISS.
In October 2022, Kelly became one of the ambassadors for UNITED24. His main concern is the Medical Aid direction of support, where he has been raising funds for C-type reanimobiles. Kelly did not make this decision on a whim:
To encourage others to donate, Kelly set an example by donating $65,000 towards the first ambulance.
On the 27th of November, Kelly traveled to Ukraine. He visited the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, as well as the towns of Bucha and Irpin, where he witnessed the tragedy inflicted in the wake of russian invasion. Scott also met the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, offering his support in fundraising generators for hospitals. The video in which three UNITED24 ambassadors — Scott Kelly, Andriy Shevchenko, and Oleksandr Usyk — walk across a lightless Kyiv has become viral worldwide. Thanks to it, over $3,000,000 has been raised to help Ukrainian medics.
“I’VE BEEN TO SPACE FOUR TIMES, AND I KNOW THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT COMES NOT FROM STARS IN THE SKY, BUT FROM HUMAN HEARTS.”
