Wearing Wife Gabby Gifford's Wedding Ring, Astronaut Mark Kelly Embarks on Endeavor's Final Mission

With about 500,000 people in attendance, including commander Mark Kelly's wife U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, the Endeavors final space launch was flawless. On a picture perfect Florida morning, with astronaut Mark Kelly at the helm, wearing his wife Gabby's wedding ring on a chain around his neck, the 16 day space mission was on its way.

it was reported that Mark Kelly and wife U.S Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, traded wedding rings at the beach house they were staying at in Florida, awaiting the final launch of the space ship Endeavor, before saying goodbye on Sunday afternoon. It was the couples goal for Gifford to be well enough to be able to attend this once in a lifetime event, after she was critically wounded in Jan. 2011 at an Arizona supermarket parking lot, where several other people were injured and also died as a result of their injuries.

This is the second trip to Florida for Gabrielle Gifford since she was wounded back on that sad Jan. day. She also attended the failed launch attempt on Apr. 29, and later returned to the Houston rehabilitation center where she has spent much of the last 4 months receiving treatment for the assassination attempt on her life. She will return to the Houston center after the launch today for further rehabilitation. Her staff reported she was very happy and excited about the mission and it was considered to be a good day for everyone involved in the mission.

In addition to commander Mark Kelly wearing his wife's wedding ring on the Endeavors final space mission, the other astronauts on-board the space shuttle are carrying bracelets in honor of Gifford, bearing the words "Peace-Love-Gabby." We're all hoping for a speedy and full recovery for Gifford and also a successful and safe space mission for this final trip of the Endeavor.

The space shuttle Endeavor is loaded with supplies and equipment, including the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which once installed, will start sending down data about cosmic rays. This 16 nation project has been in the making for over 17 years. This 16-day Endeavor space mission is the 2ND to last scheduled flight for the 30 year long space shuttle program. After the Endeavors return to earth, it will become a museum piece at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Sources:www.msnbc.com
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