Houston hospital: Giffords can attend launch

HOUSTON — Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords can fly to Florida this week to watch her astronaut husband rocket into space as commander of the space shuttle Endeavour, but she will return shortly after the launch to resume rehabilitation, her doctors in Houston confirmed Monday.

The doctors at TIRR Memorial Hermann said Giffords is "medically able" to travel and that they view the trip to Cape Canaveral as part of her rehabilitation from a gunshot wound to the head.

AP Photo/Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, File

This undated file photo provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, shows her, left, with her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly.

"Medically, there is no reason she could not travel safely to Florida to participate in this incredible event with her husband," said Dr. Dong Kim, director of the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann.

The last time Giffords flew was when she was transported on a private jet from the hospital in Tucson, Ariz., that treated her immediately after the Jan. 8 shooting to Houston, where she has been undergoing intensive rehabilitation. But this time, her flight is not an ambulance transport, Kim added.

"She is medically able and well enough to travel without additional risks," said Kim, who also serves as professor and chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School.

ABC and CBS News initially reported on Sunday that doctors had given Giffords the green light to attend the launch.

Being there for the Endeavour's final flight — commanded by Giffords' husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly — was a goal for the congresswoman and her family.

"Attending the launch is an opportune time for her to continue her therapy progression," said Dr. Gerard Francisco, lead physician of the brain injury rehabilitation team and chief medical officer at TIRR Memorial Hermann. Francisco also is chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UTHealth.

"We routinely allow patients outside visits as part of their rehabilitation," he said in a statement. "She has made remarkable progress in her rehabilitation, and we saw no reason why she could not travel safely to Florida."