Sturckow stepped into the backup seat for Mark Kelly, as Kelly tended to his wife, who was in critical condition in a Tucson, Ariz. 13, NASA made an unprecedented announcement that veteran spaceflyer Rick Sturckow would serve as backup commander during ongoing training for Endeavour's STS-134 flight. Wasn't there a backup plan to replace Kelly? There are six astronauts who make up the STS-134 crew: commander Mark Kelly, a veteran of three previous shuttle flights pilot Gregory Johnson, who piloted Endeavour on the orbiter's STS-123 mission in March 2008 mission specialists Michael Fincke, who has served two long-duration stints living and working onboard the International Space Station Greg Chamitoff, who has logged a total of 183 days in space Andrew Feustel, who was a member of the shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission in May 2009 and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, who has flown twice before to the space station. NASA plans to fly one last mission aboard the shuttle Atlantis to deliver supplies to the space station, but funding for the mission has yet to be approved by Congress. The STS-134 mission is the second-to-last space shuttle flight planned before NASA retires its three-orbiter fleet later this year. Kelly and Giffords have been married since 2007.Įndeavour's final mission to the space station is scheduled to last 14 days. He told reporters that his wife is making incredible progress in her recovery, and that ultimately, she would want him to carry on with the mission. 4), Kelly announced that he would remain part of the STS-134 crew. Since then, Kelly had been debating whether to go through with the mission or stay by his wife's side as she recovers. 8 at a constituent meeting in Tucson, Ariz. Kelly's wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, suffered a gunshot wound to the head in an assassination attempt Jan. For a time, there was some doubt as to whether NASA astronaut Mark Kelly's would remain as commander of Endeavour's STS-134 flight, or whether he would choose not to fly on the mission at all.
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