An astronaut goes to space

Representative Giffords has a husband, who is an astronaut.  She is in a coma after being attacked by a madman.  He is scheduled to go on a flight mission in April.  Will he go, or remain with her as she tries to recover from a senseless attack?

I remember reading that and thinking about two things.  First, what I know about people in the Navy.  Second, what I think a marriage between an Astronaut and a Congresswoman would be like.  How often do they get to even see each other?  On her end, she much campaign across her district, has professional obligations in Washington D.C., on top of travel, political events, etc., etc.  He is an astronaut stationed in Cape Canaveral, Florida, with his own demanding professional obligations.  He must train, remain under the watchful eye of Nasa, and spend a lot of time flying to prepare.

Basically, they are probably never together.  It is kind of like a paper marriage.  Probably not even a real sense of togetherness.  Here are a few quotes from the article:

"If he does choose, and NASA management chooses, for him to fly this mission ... I am absolutely 100 percent confident that he will have no problem fulfilling his responsibilities the same way as if this incident would have never occurred."


Wow.  And he is being praised for that.  If my wife were in a coma and trying to recover from a terrorist attack, I wouldn't be going on a two-week trip to outer space when someone else would jump at the chance to do the job.