The Hill News

The husband of the congresswoman shot in the head in an Arizona rampage last month will fly an upcoming space shuttle mission as scheduled.

Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, who is married to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), will announce at a press conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday that he will command a flight of the space shuttle Endeavor beginning April 19.

In a press release, Kelly said he is excited to resume training next week.

"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."

The flight was assigned before the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that left Giffords critically injured. Since then, it has been unclear if Kelly would go ahead with plans to lead the two-week mission to the International Space Station.

After the shooting, Kelly stopped training for the mission so he could be with his wife. He rushed to be with her as she spent the next two weeks in critical care in Tucson, Ariz., and then at a rehabilitation clinic in Houston, where she remains.

According to The Associated Press, Kelly has been debating whether he would lead the mission. Kelly's twin brother, Scott, who is also an astronaut and is currently in command of a six-person team on the space station, hinted earlier this week that Kelly had decided to fly on the Endeavor mission.

Kelly's inclusion in the mission will add to the already high profile of the flight. It is Endeavor's last flight, and NASA is retiring its shuttle fleet this year.