RM, what do you think?

He has decided to be part of the April shuttle launch. They have said absolutely nothing about the condition of Gabby which leads me to believe she is in terrible condition.

What's his moral responsibility here? How long does he have to wait by his wife's side, even if she has no idea who he is (speculating/hyperbole)?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/ ... CC20110205

The husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman critically wounded in an assassination attempt last month, will command the space shuttle Endeavour when it launches in April, NASA said on Friday.

Mark Kelly, a three-time shuttle veteran, has been on a leave of absence since Giffords was shot in the head outside a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8.

Six people, including a federal judge, were killed and 12 others were wounded. Jared Loughner has been accused in the shootings.

Giffords spent two weeks in an Arizona hospital's intensive-care unit and was transferred to Houston on January 21 to begin rehabilitation.

At a news conference on Friday, Kelly declined to discuss details of his wife's condition. But he said he was planning on her being at Florida's Kennedy Space Center for the targeted April 19 launch of Endeavour's two-week mission, NASA's last scheduled shuttle flight.

"She's made progress every day," Kelly said. "I have every intention that she'll be there for the launch. I've already talked to her doctors about it. There really shouldn't be any reason why she can't go to the launch."

Giffords is undergoing six hours a day of speech, occupational and physical therapy, Kelly said.

"She's got very busy days," Kelly said. "I started to think about my mission, my crew, the fact that I've been training for it for nearly a year and a half and considering a bunch of other factors, including what Gabrielle would want me to do and what her parents and her family and my family would like, I ultimately made the decision that I would like to return and command (the Endeavour) mission."

'BIG SUPPORTER'

Kelly said he was sure his wife would be comfortable with his decision.

"She is a big supporter of my career, a big supporter of NASA," he said. "What we do and what our nation gets from that is very, very high on her list of things she really treasures about this country."

Kelly told NASA managers he would like to return and laid out a plan showing how he would manage the rigors of training and being in space for two weeks. NASA gave him a trial run this week.

"He has an incredible support group, which made us more comfortable that he had folks to help him through this process and make it a doable thing for him to perform the mission," said chief astronaut Peggy Whitson.

NASA had appointed veteran shuttle commander Frederick Sturckow to take over if Kelly decided not to return.

"It's better to choose the fellow that's been training for a year and a half in order to reduce the overall mission risk," Whitson said.

You mean Kelly?

huh

oh yah

Giffords isn't the astronaut's name.

I said oh yah!

After the fact!

I don't know. It's easy to say no he shouldn't, but he's in a situation I can't begin to grasp what it's like to experience.

Oh come on, I know you can offer an opinion. You have a few thousand times before.

Where does it say I edited it?

That is my opinion. In a black and white world I say no, but I don't know her actual condition, I don't know what her family has said to him about it, I don't know how she felt about this mission for him before she got shot. I really don't know.

I liked the original title better.

I don't have an answer either. That's why I asked RM!

There is obviously a line to be drawn somewhere. If it was 1 year and she was basically incapacitated he should be able to live his life, no? But it seems early in her recovery to leave her side unless the doctors have told him she has no chance of even mild recovery (remembering her life, her past, is recovery in my mind).

Yeah it does seem early.

It's the last space shuttle mission ever. I don't mean this in a mean way, but if she is just going to be in a hospital bed the whole 10 days he is up there, what's the big deal?

Ruddo brings up a good point.

I definitely think we, the Red Mosquito collective, have the responsibility of deciding this for him

It's only 2 weeks and she's in capable hands. This is what he's spent his life working towards. I think it's the right decision.

If he doesn't go, the terrorists win.

No it's not. Last one of that shuttle.