Obama Meets With Rep. Giffords At Cape Canaveral

Obama Meets With Rep. Giffords At Cape Canaveral

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama met with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) for 10 minutes Friday during his visit to Cape Canaveral for the space shuttle launch, a White House official said.

Obama and the First Lady stopped in to see the congresswoman on their way to meeting with the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour, which is grounded until at least Monday after today’s expected launch was postponed due to technical problems. Click here for a picture of the president meeting with the shuttle crew.

On his way into the room where he met with Giffords, Obama greeted her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, outside in the corridor. “I bet you were hoping to see a rocket launch today,” Kelly told Obama. The president replied, “We were hoping to see you.”

A Giffords aide said Obama was joined by a group of her family members and friends during his visit with the congresswoman. Among them: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Giffords’ mother Gloria, nurses Kristy Poteet and Darlene Clayton, Mark’s brother and fellow astronaut Scott Kelly, Mark’s daughters Claire and Claudia, and Giffords’ chief of staff Pia Carusone.

Giffords' trip to Florida marks her first outing after undergoing months of rehabilitation for the gunshot wound to the head she suffered in January. A video surfaced Wednesday of Giffords climbing the stairs to her plane to Florida; the clip is the first time the congresswoman has been publicly seen since the shooting.

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