In the spirit of Veterans Day, NASA astronauts honored a U.S. Army veteran who was seriously wounded in Iraq.
NASA astronauts recently gathered at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to honor Sgt. Russ Marek, a U.S. Army veteran who lost an arm and a leg and suffered a severe brain injury in Iraq in 2005.
During a brief ceremony, Sgt. Marek received a leather jacket signed by more than 30 astronauts to thank him for his patriotism, service and sacrifice on behalf of his country.
“They honored me – I really can’t say too much. I feel it’s a heartwarming thing,” Marek said.
Sgt. Marek was 34 when he was wounded during his second tour of Iraq in September 2005 when an Improvised Explosive Device detonated under his tank, killing two of his four crew members.
Marek lost his lower right leg and right forearm. He sustained a severe closed head brain injury, which shut down all function on his left side, technically rendering him a quadriplegic.
He also sustained third-degree burns to more than 20 percent of his body and lost his right ear and left thumb. Sgt. Marek spent the next 13 weeks in a coma and then began a grueling rehabilitation and recovery that continues today.
After the ceremony, the astronauts took Sgt. Marek and his family on a tour of the space shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Visitor Complex.