Rick is a delight and quite literally everyone to whom I recced this series ended up loving him by ep 5 (only to then have their hearts crushed by the scene at the end of this episode :D)

He'll still play a very important role in the Earth Team, even unable to pilot anymore, but this just makes it all the more heart-rending when we do lose him (one of the reasons why my gigantosaurus of a post-canon fic starts with a the two Weis & Rick reunion, I accept no other possible outcomes).