Second-Last Shuttle Mission Set to Launch

The space shuttle Endeavor will fly its final mission this morning, while Gabrielle Giffords watches her husband lead the crew.

NASA's second-last space shuttle mission, helmed by the husband of American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is ready to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., this morning. If all goes according to plan, the shuttle Endeavor will blast off at 8:56 a.m. to head to the International Space Station to install a particle physics project. Endeavor will be retired after the mission and put on display in a Los Angeles museum. Giffords, who was shot in the head during a political rally in January, is expected to be in the audience to watch her husband, Cmdr. Mark Kelly, and five other astronauts blast off. NASA's last shuttle mission is scheduled for July, when Atlantis will make the trip to the orbiting ISS one final time.