Obama, Giffords to View Shuttle Launch Today
The air of excitement surrounding the final launch of Endeavour (STS-134), scheduled for 3:47 pm EDT this afternoon, is at almost fever pitch with two VIPs planning to be in attendance. President Obama will fly to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) after he visits tornado-ravaged Alabama, and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), wife of Endeavour commander Mark Kelly, has flown to KSC from her rehabilitation hospital in Houston.
Video from a distance of Giffords climbing the stairs of a NASA aircraft to fly to Florida was widely shown Wednesday and yesterday. It was the first time the public had any view at all of the Congresswoman since she was shot in the head on January 8 during an assassination attempt.
Whether it is the President’s attendance or Rep. Giffords’s, or both, there is much more media attention to this launch than usual. Even Politico is covering it! Hopefully it will launch as scheduled; the weather forecast is 70 percent go.
If nothing else, the public finally seems to be getting the message that this is the next to last shuttle flight.
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