Gabrielle Giffords to see Endeavor's last liftoff

Seth Borenstein, Associated Press


Monday, May 16, 2011



Bruce Weaver / AFP/Getty Images
A gopher tortoise walks near the launchpad with the shuttle Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle is due to begin its final mission today.


(05-16) 04:00 PDT Cape Canaveral --

With wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on hand to watch, the space shuttle Endeavour is poised to give the workweek a roaring and historic start this morning, overcoming wiring problems that grounded it last month.

Giffords' arrival Sunday included a quick flyby of Endeavour on the launchpad, ready to go. The shuttle will be commanded by her husband, Mark Kelly.

"Gabrielle is excited for tomorrow's launch. Do you plan to see history in the making?" her staff tweeted.

NASA officials said conditions - from weather to technical issues - couldn't look much better for the scheduled 5:56 a.m. PDT launch.

Giffords, traveling on a NASA jet with the family of shuttle pilot Gregory Johnson, arrived shortly after the protective structure that surrounds Endeavour was moved out of the way - a milestone in launch preparations that allows fueling to begin.

Last month's launch attempt was scrubbed because of an electrical problem. NASA is expecting smaller crowds today - 400,000 people instead of 750,000 - for the second attempt.

The story of Giffords' recovery from the Jan. 8 mass shooting in her home district of Tucson, has drawn as much attention as the shuttle mission. She was shot in the head in an attack that killed six people.

Doctors cleared her to travel to see the launch. She came for the April attempt, flew back to Houston to resume her rehabilitation work and even had dinner out with her husband.

The main goal of Endeavour's 16-day mission is to haul a $2 billion astronomy and physics experiment to the International Space Station.

This is also the next-to-last flight for the 30-year-old space shuttle fleet. And it is the final flight of the shuttle Endeavour, which has flown 116.4 million miles in 24 previous flights.


Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/15/MN5O1JGGIU.DTL#ixzz1MV3K6zqh
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Gabrielle Giffords Cleared To Attend Shuttle Launch, Husband Mark Kelly Says

04/24/11 10:54 PM ET


HOUSTON — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend husband Mark Kelly's space shuttle launch in Florida on Friday, Kelly said, allowing the Arizona congresswoman to travel for the first time since she was flown from Tucson to Houston more than three months ago to recover from a gunshot wound to the head.

In an interview with CBS' Katie Couric, Kelly said Giffords' doctors had given her permission to travel to Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the launch of Endeavour, which is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. Friday. Kelly is the commander of the shuttle mission.

CBS released excerpts of the interview Sunday, and it was scheduled to air Monday on "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric," according to a network statement.

"I've met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon and her doctors, and ... they've given us permission to take her down to the launch," Kelly said in the interview in Houston. The network statement did not specify when the interview occurred.

James Harsfield, spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, referred all questions about Giffords to the congresswoman's office, where there was no immediate comment.

President Barack Obama and the first family also are scheduled to watch the launch, although it's unclear if they will watch it with Giffords.

Families view launches at Kennedy Space Center from a restricted area, and there are no plans for Giffords to make a public appearance.

It will be the first time Giffords has traveled since she was flown from Tucson, Ariz., to Houston on Jan. 21 for rehab. The Democrat was shot in the head Jan. 8 in a shooting in Tucson that killed six people and injured 12 others.

Giffords' spokesman, C.J. Karamargin, and her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, plan to hold a news conference after the launch to discuss the congresswoman's reaction, but Giffords will not go to the news conference because it could be an emotional moment for her, Karamargin said.

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AdvertisementGiffords went to Kelly's last launch in 2008, when he commanded the space shuttle Discovery. The two married in 2007.

Obama last saw Giffords on Jan. 12, just four days after the shooting, when he visited her intensive care hospital room in Tucson and reported that she opened her eyes for the first time a few minutes after he left.

More recently, he wrote a tribute about the congresswoman in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people in the world, saying that she wasn't known before the shooting, but now "she's got the prayers of a nation rooting for her."

He also wrote that Giffords is "a needed voice that cannot return soon enough."

The shooting happened as Giffords was holding a community outreach event in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center. A gunman shot her in the head and worked his way down the line of her staff members and people waiting to talk with her. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack and is in custody.

Giffords has not been seen publicly since the shooting and has spent the last three months relearning how to speak, walk and take care of herself. She has been singing – as part of musical therapy – asking for her favorite foods and visiting with family, friends, and her rabbi.

Kelly returned to training for the shuttle launch in February after taking time off to be at his wife's hospital bedside.

Endeavour's two-week trip will be the last for that shuttle and the next-to-last shuttle mission. Shuttle Atlantis will close out the 30-year shuttle program this summer. Kelly and five crewmates will deliver a $2 billion physics experiment to the International Space Station, as well as critical spare parts to keep the orbiting outpost running for another decade.

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Arizona's first Jewish Congresswoman

Recently, I heard someone state that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is Catholic; I attempted to inform that individual that she is actually Jewish, without success.

So, to dispel any misunderstanding about her religion, I'll post an excerpt of her wikipedia bio:

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Personal life

Giffords was born in Tucson, Arizona, to Gloria Kay (née Fraser) and Spencer J. Giffords. Her father is a first cousin of director Bruce Paltrow, whose daughter is actress Gwyneth Paltrow.[10] Giffords was raised in a mixed religious environment by her Jewish father and Christian Science-practicing mother. She has identified herself solely with Judaism since 2001, belonging to Congregation Chaverim, a Reform synagogue, in Tucson.[1][11] She is Arizona's first Jewish Congresswoman.[12][13]

Giffords graduated from Tucson's University High School. She received a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American history from Scripps College in California in 1993,[14] and a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University, in 1996.[14] She focused her studies on Mexico – United States relations while at Cornell. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1996 and a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.[citation needed]

Giffords married U.S. Navy Captain and astronaut Mark E. Kelly on November 10, 2007. He was the Space Shuttle's pilot on STS-108 and STS-121, and commander of STS-124.[15]

Giffords is a former member of the Arizona regional board of the Anti-Defamation League.[16] After Hurricane Katrina struck in the late summer of 2005, Giffords spent time as a volunteer in Houston, Texas, in relief efforts for Hurricane victims. She wrote about her experience in the Tucson Citizen.[17]

Giffords is an avid reader and was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition on July 9, 2006. She was periodically interviewed together with Illinois Republican Peter Roskam on NPR's All Things Considered. The series focused on their experiences as freshman members of the 110th Congress.

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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Arizona's 8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2007
Preceded by Jim Kolbe

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Member of the Arizona Senate
from the 28th district
In office
January 8, 2003 – December 1, 2005
Preceded by Randall Gnant
Succeeded by Paula Aboud

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Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
from the 13th district
In office
January 1, 2001 – January 8, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born June 8, 1970 (1970-06-08) (age 40)
Tucson, Arizona
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Mark E. Kelly
Residence Tucson, Arizona
Alma mater Cornell University (M.U.P.)
Scripps College (B.A.)
Profession Politician; businesswoman
Religion Reform Judaism[1]

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Giffords

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John Boehner offers prayers, help

By JAKE SHERMAN 1/9/11 8:57 AM EST

House Speaker John Boehner said the lower chamber is ready to assist in the aftermath of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords being shot, and asked lawmakers and staff to keep her and her aides in their prayers.

Speaking from his hometown of West Chester, Ohio, Boehner struck a somber tone, reflective of the situation he confronts just days into his speakership.

“To the members of the house and their staffs, I ask that you, on this Sabbath day, that we keep Gabby and her staff in our thoughts and prayers,” Boehner said. “Public service is a high honor but these tragic events remind us that all of us in our roles in service to our fellow citizens comes with a risk. This inhuman act should not, and will not, deter us from our calling to represent our constituents and to fulfill our oaths of office. No act, no matter how heinous, must be allowed to stop us from our duty.”

That risk was realized in the Giffords shooting, and reflected by the Republican majority with an altered schedule this week, which will push of the vote to repeal Democrats’ health care reform.

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Note:

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Mr. Boehner hasn't even been speaker of the House of Representatives for a week, and already he is expressing the very same things that I fear he will (would) have MUCH more to say about very soon: The Sabbath; NO, Not the real Sabbath, but his Church's mark of authority, SUNDAY.

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LISTEN CLOSELY, AND YOU'LL HEAR THE DISTINCT VOICE OF THE DRAGON!

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