It has been confirmed that Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will attend the space shuttle launch in Florida on Friday, April 29.
In an interview with Katie Couric, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly shared the good news: “I met with her doctors and neurosurgeon, and they’ve given us permission to take her down to the launch. We’re excited about that.”
Giffords husband is the commander of the upcoming Endeavour flight headed to the International Space Station at the end of the week.
The congresswoman has been living and rehabbing at the world-renowned TIRR Memorial-Hermann since January 21, when she was moved from Tucson to be closer to her husband while he was training for his space shuttle mission.
There have been no photos allowed of Giffords. According to her husband, she still has visible scars that show through her short hair. She is not yet able to talk in long sentences but she understands everything. According to doctors, Giffords is in the top five percent of patients recovering from her type of brain injury.
Despite her progress, chief of staff Pia Carusone cautions the public against wild expectations. Use of her right arm and leg are still extremely limited and the family takes their greatest comfort in the fact that she is alive.
Carusone indicates that it will be totally up to Gabrielle when she wants to release photos. Rumors are running rampant that there is a $200,000 bounty for the first paparazzi who can get a “money shot” of the congresswoman. It is expected that she will be shielded from photographers on Friday.
View a photo of Giffords and Kelly below and hear what Mark Kelly had to say to Katie Couric in the interview: