Shuttle Endeavour Lifts Off

CNN reports:

The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off on its last mission Monday morning, NASA said.

The shuttle's mission is commanded by Mark Kelly. His wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, arrived safely at the Kennedy Space Center Sunday, NASA said, four months after being shot in the head during an assassination attempt at a public event in Tucson, Arizona.

After initial treatment in Arizona, Giffords has been undergoing rehabilitation at the TIRR Memorial Hermann center in Houston.

Photos of the shuttle and NASA's launch countdown clock were posted on her Facebook page Monday morning.

Giffords, along with President Barack Obama, was in Florida on April 29, when Endeavour was originally slated to launch. That liftoff was scrubbed because of a problem with a heater aboard the shuttle.

But on Saturday, NASA officials said the heater problem had been fixed and the shuttle was "good to go" for its scheduled Monday takeoff.

"The system looks good, the weather looks good, and we should be in good shape for launch," Mike Moses, launch integration manager for NASA's space shuttle program, told reporters.