Giffords on Obama attending shuttle launch: 'Awesome'

Told that President Barack Obama is to attend the launch of the space shuttle skippered by her husband, wounded Arizona Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords had just one word: "Awesome."

Giffords was shot at a community event in Tucson in January, and is recovering at a hospital in Houston.

"She smiled broadly and said 'awesome,'" Giffords communications director C.J. Karamargin, communications director for Giffords, who broke the news to her on Wednesday, told Reuters.

"It was great, she was obviously very pleased that the president and the first family were attending," he added.

The White House said on Wednesday that Obama would attend the Endeavour's lift-off at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 29. The mission is captained by Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, a three-time space shuttle veteran.

Giffords also plans to attend the launch, pending final approval from her doctors at the TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital, Karamargin told Reuters.

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She was shot through the head in an attack at a congressional event in Tucson on January 8 that killed six people and injured the congresswoman and 12 others. She has not appeared in public since then.

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NASA plans to retire the shuttle fleet this year, with Endeavor's last flight to be followed by the final voyage of shuttle Atlantis in June.

Those two shuttles, plus Discovery, which has already completed its last mission, are to be put on display in museums in Florida, California and Virginia.