The former space shuttle commander, who’s in Toronto with the March of Dimes, opens up about space travel and the day his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot.
Sitting on the other end of a phone line listening to Captain Mark Kelly reflect on his life and work now that he’s reached the big 5-0 proved humbling to say the least. The conversation included his experience as a Gulf War combat pilot with the U.S. Navy, followed by his tenure as a NASA astronaut with four trips into space, serving as commander of the space shuttle on two of them (including the Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final flight). In other words, he’s an American hero.
He throws in a joke about the accomplishment of getting his kids through high school, as if he can hear the sound of my self-worth shrivelling on the other end of the line as the realization sinks in that I’ll never accomplish a fraction of what he has in only the first half of his life.
Of course the most personal of his accomplishments is the one he shares with his wife, former American Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who on Jan. 8, 2011, was shot in the head in an assassination attempt during a public appearance in Tucson, Arizona. Six others were killed and 13 injured, but Gabrielle miraculously survived and today the couple campaigns for more reasonable gun control laws in the United States.
“Telling our story, trying to make people feel better and give them something they can take back to their own lives,” Kelly begins, “I’m pretty proud of that.”
One of the biggest challenges to Gabrielle’s recovery, Kelly notes, is aphasia –language disorders that usually result from a traumatic brain injury such as a stroke or, in this case, a gunshot wound.
“The aphasia thing is probably what she spends the most time at trying to overcome,” Kelly tells me. “I think she’ll be working on that for years.”
However, he notes, “She lives a pretty full life and we travel a lot and [for] a lot of work-related things. And she loves marching out in front of a big audience and giving a speech.”
Kelly’s in Toronto today (June 4, 2015) for a dinner supporting the March of Dimes Canada Aphasia and Communications Disabilities Program (ACDP). I spoke with him ahead of the dinner about the day his wife Gabrielle was shot, his travel into space as she lay on the operating table and his goals for the next stage of his life.
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