"By all accounts" Arizona U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords is recovering fast - and one doctor called it "lightening speed" at a Texas hospital following the rampage by a gunman nearly a month to the day in Tucson, according to the Arizona Daily Star and the Associated Press.
Astronaut Mark Kelly returns to training on Monday (Feb. 7) to be the commander of the six-man Italian-American flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour set for April 19 - a hard-made stunning decision that has thrilled his NASA colleagues.
Kelly set a Friday afternoon news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Kelly has been at his wife's hospital bedside since the Jan. 8 mass shooting.
It will be one of the highest shuttle flights ever and include an "elaborate physics experiment" by a Nobel Prize winner. The final voyage of Endeavour, its the next-to-last flight for the amazing and dramatic 30-year Space Shuttle program.
Kelly's identical twin brother Scott is the current commander on the International Space Station and will return to Earth in mid-March aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule ending a 5 1/2-month mission - just in time to wish Mark a great flight.
Some Arizonans say prayers, a miracle and great doctors has led to the relatively fast recovery of Congresswoman Giffords who still has a long road ahead.
Millions of prayers, tears and now joy - how much drama can one family stand?
(Fri. Jan. 21, 2011) - Congresswoman Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords arrived at a Houston hospital following an emotional trip by ambulance, helicopter and jet during which throngs of flag-waving and sign-carrying well-wishers lined the streets in her hometown of Tucson for a dramatic send-off as a motorcade of police cars and motorcycles plus sheriff's deputies escorted her ambulance during the start her journey to Texas.
Gifford will continue her dramatic recovery from a gunshot wound to the head at the Texas Medical Center rehabilitation hospital. Even Capitol Police are among those making sure her stay in Texas is secure.
Gifford began the "next phase of her recover today," her astronaut husband Mark Kelly tweeted. "Very grateful to the docs and nurses at UMC, Tucson PD, Sheriffs Dept....Back in Tucson ASAP!"
(Mon. Jan. 17, 2011) - Congresswoman Giffords smiled at her husband and gave him a 10 minute neck rub and she underwent successful eye socket surgery, according to ABC News story about Diane Sawyer interview with Rep. Giffords husband.
"But it is so typical of her that no matter how bad the situation might be for her .. she is looking out for other people," Gifford's husband astronaut Mark Kelly told ABC's Diane Sawyer.
(Sun. Jan 16, 2011) - Congresswoman Giffords condition was upgraded from critical to serious - a great sign she is improving.
(Sat., Jan 15, 2011) - Doctors removed Congresswoman Giffords's breathing tube, replacing it with a tracheotomy tube and freeing her from the ventilator, and could soon know if she can speak, according to the Washington Post.
