He may be in orbit, but Endeavour commander Mark Kelly will just be a phone call away from his wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as she continues to recover from head wounds suffered in a January shooting rampage.
Once Kelly docks the space shuttle at the International Space Station tomorrow, he’ll have almost unrestricted use of a special Internet protocol phone, said NASA spokeswoman Kylie Clem.
“He can use that phone to call anyone on Earth during his free time,” she said. “Nobody on Earth can call that phone, but he can call anyone he wants.”
Endeavour blasted off yesterday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 16-day mission.
“It’s in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop,” Kelly, 47, said.