Giffords to attend shuttle launch

Husband of US congresswoman, who was wounded in the Arizona shootings, is commander of the Endeavour mission due for lift off from Cape Canaveral on 19 April US representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely wounded in a shooting rampage in Tucson in January, plans to attend the launch of her astronaut husband’s space shuttle mission next month, an aide said. “The plan is for her to attend,” said CJ Karamargin, spokesman for the Arizona Democrat, adding that changes in her medical condition and other factors would determine if she went to the Florida launch. “It is a goal that we are working toward, and we certainly hope that she’ll be there,” he said. Giffords’s husband, Mark Kelly, a three-time space shuttle veteran, is commander of the Endeavour mission due for lift off from Cape Canaveral on 19 April on what is scheduled to be Nasa’s final shuttle flight. Doctors are expected to give an update on Giffords’s condition at a news conference in Houston on Friday. She is undergoing rehabilitation at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Centre there. Giffords has not been seen in public since she was shot in the head on 8 January when a lone gunman opened fire on a crowd of people gathered for a Congress on Your Corner event outside a supermarket. Six people were killed and 13 others, including Giffords, were wounded in the shooting spree. The accused assailant, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a 49-count indictment stemming from the attack. Gabrielle Giffords Arizona shooting United States US politics The space shuttle guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.