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APCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Sitting in a wheelchair atop NASA's launch control center with other astronaut families, wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords watched her husband launch into space Monday aboard space shuttle Endeavour. And she smiled.
Inside Endeavour somewhere is a handwritten personal note she wrote the shuttle commander, her husband Mark Kelly. The handful of shuttle watchers, including Giffords' nurse, were mostly quiet as Endeavour took flight. It's hard to hear amid the roar of the spacecraft. Then Giffords said, "Good stuff, good stuff," according to the congresswoman's aide.
Kelly took her wedding ring into space, which he has done on past flights. But this time she wanted something back: his ring to stay on Earth. She had it around her neck on a silver chain from a funky Arizona jewelry store that included a heart and an Arizona map.
"Relief was her biggest feeling," chief of staff Pia Carusone said in a post-launch press conference. "She was very proud. She's always proud of Mark. "There were hugs around," Carusone said. "It was very celebratory among the families."
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