NASA astronaut Mark Kelly will resume training as commander of the STS-134 space shuttle mission on Monday, Feb. 7. With the exception of some proficiency training, Kelly has been on personal leave since Jan. 8 to care for his wife, congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded in a Tucson, Ariz. shooting.
"I am looking forward to rejoining my STS-134 crew members and finishing our training for the mission," Kelly said. "We have been preparing for more than 18 months, and we will be ready to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station and complete the other objectives of the flight. I appreciate the confidence that my NASA management has in me and the rest of my space shuttle crew."
"We are glad to have Mark back," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. "He is a veteran shuttle commander and knows well the demands of the job. We are confident in his ability to successfully lead this mission, and I know I speak for all of NASA in saying ‘welcome back.’"
A news briefing will be held at 3 p.m. EST today at Johnson to discuss Kelly’s return. The briefing will be broadcast on NASA Television.
Work is also proceeding on the STS-133 mission, targeted for launch Feb. 24. Technicians at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A will perform leak checks on space shuttle Discovery’s ground umbilical carrier plate, or GUCP, today. A gaseous hydrogen leak at the GUCP scrubbed Discovery’s first launch attempt on Nov. 5, 2010.