Astronaut twins in space? NASA did it before Winklevoss brothers

The Winklevoss twins will ride Virgin Galactic into space. But NASA astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly are the first set of identical twins to fly in space.

The Winklevoss twins launched into the headlines Wednesday (March 5) by announcing their plan to ride a Virgin Galactic space plane (and paying with Bitcoins, no less), but they aren't the first set of identical twins to fly in space. NASA, it turns out, got there first.

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Years before the Winklevoss twins planned their Virgin Galactic space trip, the identical twins Mark and Scott Kelly both 50 of West Orange, N.J., were busy flying space shuttles for NASA. Not only are the Kelly brothers the first identical twin astronauts in history, but they were also simultaneous captains in the U.S. Navy until Mark Kelly retired from both NASA and the Navy in 2011.

The Kelly brothers (Mark is six minutes older) joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1996, with Mark flying four space shuttle missions and Scott flying three spaceflights, including a 159-day stay on the International Space Station. Both astronauts served as space shuttle commanders, with Scott commanding the space station during most recent spaceflight, which ran from October 2010 and ended in March 2011. [Twins in Space: NASA Astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly]

Now when it comes to the Winklevoss brothers the founders of Winklevoss Capital investing group this part is key. The Winklevoss twins could be the first identical siblings to fly at the same time.

The Winklevoss brothers are paying the Bitcoin equivalent of $250,000 for the suborbital spaceflight. Virgin Galactic is offering trips into suborbital space (they don't reach Earth orbit like NASA shuttles) by launching the SpaceShipTwo vehicle from a high-altitude mothership called WhiteKnightTwo. The SpaceShipTwo can carry two pilots and six passengers per flight.

The Kelly brothers never had the chance to fly in space together, though at one point it was planned.

In 2011, NASA hoped to launch its second-to-last space shuttle mission the STS-134 flight on Endeavour early in the year, during the time that Scott Kelly was in command of the International Space Station. Mark Kelly, meanwhile, would command Endeavour. It would be a historic identical twin space commander flight.

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Astronaut twins in space? NASA did it before Winklevoss brothers