The astronaut husband of wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords arrived at NASA's launch site on Tuesday for this week's flight of the space shuttle Endeavour, and said his wife would be following him "pretty soon" — in plenty of time for liftoff.
President Barack Obama and his family also will attend Friday's launch. In all, as many as 500,000 spectators are expected to see Endeavour's final ascent. It will be the next-to-last space shuttle mission.
Navy Capt. Mark Kelly and his all-male crew flew into Kennedy Space Center early Tuesday afternoon, about an hour before the countdown clock started ticking at 2 p.m. ET.
Speaking on behalf of his five crewmates, Kelly expressed pleasure at seeing the astronauts' wives and children, who flew in a little earlier and gathered nearby.
Giffords was not in the crowd. She has been in Houston, where she is undergoing rehabilitation for a gunshot wound to the head. She was attacked Jan. 8 in Tucson, Ariz., her hometown.
"I'm personally looking forward to my wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, getting here pretty soon, to be here in time for our launch on Friday," Kelly told the crowd of family members and journalists.
"It's something she's been looking forward to for a long time," he said. "She's been working really hard to make sure that her doctors would permit her to come. She's more than medically ready to be here, and she's excited about making this trip."
Kelly was joined Tuesday by his identical twin, astronaut Scott Kelly. Both wore turquoise "Gabby" wristbands. Her staff said Giffords' travel for Florida would be provided by NASA.
NASA test director Jeremy Graeber said Giffords' presence — and the First Family's visit — would not distract the launch team. It's exciting to have so many people coming for Endeavour's final takeoff, especially first-time guests, he said.
The last time a sitting president witnessed a launch from Kennedy Space Center was in 1998, when President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, watched then-Sen. John Glenn's departure on a space shuttle flight.
Forecasters said there's an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather for launch at the scheduled time, 3:47 p.m. ET Friday. "Overall, our main concern for launch day is going to be crosswinds," shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters said.
Endeavour will carry a $2 billion international particle physics experiment known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station, along with a load of spare station parts. Over the next decade or so, the AMS will be on the watch for particle detections that could shed light on the nature of mysterious dark matter or cosmic antimatter.
Four spacewalks are planned during Endeavour's 14-day mission, which may be extended another couple of days if things go well.
This will be the 134th shuttle mission overall and the 25th for NASA's youngest shuttle. Endeavour first flew in 1992, as the replacement for the lost Challenger.
"We're going to take Endeavour out for a couple more, probably about 5 or 6 million more miles," Kelly said. It already has logged 116 million miles. "After 25 flights, we will hopefully land here on this runway and then Endeavour is done with its service to the country."
Endeavour will retire to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
The 30-year shuttle program is due to end this summer with the flight of the shuttle Atlantis. After the shuttle fleet's retirement, NASA will initially have to rely on Russian, European and Japanese transports to carry astronauts and cargo to the space station. U.S. commercial cargo launches could begin as early as next year, and NASA is supporting the development of U.S. commercial crew transports as well.
More about the Endeavour launch:
- How to watch Endeavour's last liftoff
- Doctors give Giffords go-ahead to attend launch
- Antimatter detector hitching a ride on Endeavour
This report includes information from The Associated Press and msnbc.com.