The US space agency, Nasa, is braced for gridlock around the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Friday amid expectations that hundreds of thousands of spectators will flock to the area for the final flight of thespace shuttle Endeavour.
Among the spectators will be Gabrielle Giffords, the US congresswomanwho miraculously survived a bullet through the brain when a gunman attacked a meet-and-greet session in Tucson in January, killing six people. She will watch the 8.47pm BST (3.37 ET) launch with President Barack Obama on what will be her first public appearance since the shooting. It is only the second time that a serving president has watched a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral.
Doctors gave Giffords, the wife of shuttle commander Mark Kelly, the go-ahead to attend the launch, despite having removed a large chunk of her skull to relieve swelling, and an ongoing, intensive rehabilitation programme. After the launch, Giffords will return to Houston to continue her therapy.
The story of Giffords' survival against the odds has been embraced by Americans in the aftermath of the attack by Jared Loughner, who killed her aide, Gabe Zimmerman, federal judge John Roll, and nine-year-old Christina Green.
Giffords was shot through the left side of the brain, an injury that caused severe damage to areas that control language. Her daily routine involves hours of speech therapy and physical rehabilitation.
On Wednesday, followed closely by an aide, she slowly climbed the steps to a plane bound for Cape Canaveral.
Kelly, a US Navy captain and Desert Storm veteran, pulled out of training for the Endeavour mission to be at his wife's bedside, but rejoined the crew a month later as her condition improved. On being told she could attend the launch, Giffords reportedly responded with one word: "awesome".
Kelly told reporters at Kennedy Space Station: "She's been working really hard to make sure that her doctors would permit her to come, and she's more than medically ready to be here and she's excited about making this trip." The mission will be his fourth flight aboard the space shuttle.
Kelly will lead the six-member crew on a two-week mission to the space stationto deliver a seven-tonne instrument called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. The equipment – which cost $2bn and took 15 years to build – will analyse particles in high-energy cosmic rays in the hope they shed light on the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that clumps around galaxies and makes up a quarter of the known universe.
The instrument will also hunt for heavenly bodies, and even entire galaxies, made of antimatter.
Among Endeavour's other supplies is a platform loaded with spare parts that astronauts can use for basic repairs over the rest of the space station's lifetime.
Yesterday, Nasa forecasters said there was only a 20% chance that poor conditions would delay the launch on Friday. Should bad weather postpone the mission, it may not be rescheduled for two days to give Nasa workers time to get home and rest before returning for a second attempt.
After the final flight of the shuttle Discovery in February, crowds estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands, congested roads and added hours to journey times for Nasa staff.
Endeavour is the fifth and final space shuttle built by Nasa. It was constructed as a replacement for Challenger, which exploded with the loss of its crew soon after take-off in 1986. The last flight of the shuttle, Atlantis, is scheduled for 28 June.
Among the spectators will be Gabrielle Giffords, the US congresswomanwho miraculously survived a bullet through the brain when a gunman attacked a meet-and-greet session in Tucson in January, killing six people. She will watch the 8.47pm BST (3.37 ET) launch with President Barack Obama on what will be her first public appearance since the shooting. It is only the second time that a serving president has watched a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral.
Doctors gave Giffords, the wife of shuttle commander Mark Kelly, the go-ahead to attend the launch, despite having removed a large chunk of her skull to relieve swelling, and an ongoing, intensive rehabilitation programme. After the launch, Giffords will return to Houston to continue her therapy.
The story of Giffords' survival against the odds has been embraced by Americans in the aftermath of the attack by Jared Loughner, who killed her aide, Gabe Zimmerman, federal judge John Roll, and nine-year-old Christina Green.
Giffords was shot through the left side of the brain, an injury that caused severe damage to areas that control language. Her daily routine involves hours of speech therapy and physical rehabilitation.
On Wednesday, followed closely by an aide, she slowly climbed the steps to a plane bound for Cape Canaveral.
Kelly, a US Navy captain and Desert Storm veteran, pulled out of training for the Endeavour mission to be at his wife's bedside, but rejoined the crew a month later as her condition improved. On being told she could attend the launch, Giffords reportedly responded with one word: "awesome".
Kelly told reporters at Kennedy Space Station: "She's been working really hard to make sure that her doctors would permit her to come, and she's more than medically ready to be here and she's excited about making this trip." The mission will be his fourth flight aboard the space shuttle.
Kelly will lead the six-member crew on a two-week mission to the space stationto deliver a seven-tonne instrument called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. The equipment – which cost $2bn and took 15 years to build – will analyse particles in high-energy cosmic rays in the hope they shed light on the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that clumps around galaxies and makes up a quarter of the known universe.
The instrument will also hunt for heavenly bodies, and even entire galaxies, made of antimatter.
Among Endeavour's other supplies is a platform loaded with spare parts that astronauts can use for basic repairs over the rest of the space station's lifetime.
After the final flight of the shuttle Discovery in February, crowds estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands, congested roads and added hours to journey times for Nasa staff.
Endeavour is the fifth and final space shuttle built by Nasa. It was constructed as a replacement for Challenger, which exploded with the loss of its crew soon after take-off in 1986. The last flight of the shuttle, Atlantis, is scheduled for 28 June.
