Fingers Crossed
Let's try again: Shuttle Endeavour set for Monday morning launch; Giffords inFlorida to watch liftoff
The space shuttle Endeavor is set to launch Monday at 7:56 a.m. Houston time, NASA officials have announced.
The scene at the Kennedy Space Center is expected to be much the same as the planned April 29 launch that was scrubbed at the last minute due to a faulty switch box.
Wounded Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will be on hand to watch her husband, Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, attempt his fourth spaceflight. But President Obama and his family, who were in Florida for the scrubbed launch won't make it back a second time.
Giffords arrived in Florida just after noon on Sunday, officials confirmed to CBS News.
Officials expected a sizable but smaller crowd for Monday's launch. An estimated 750,000 had gathered for the previous launch attempt, which was on a more audience-friendly Friday afternoon.
Giffords, who is undergoing rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann, will watch the launch from atop the Launch Control Center, along with other astronaut families, the Los Angeles Times reports.
One slight worry: There is a 30 percent chance of bad weather that could delay the launch again.
It will be Endeavour's 25th — and final — liftoff. The shuttle will be displayed at the California Science Center in Los Angeles after it is officially retired.
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Photo by Leonid Furmansky
