Bipartisan delegation also will tour Kennedy Space Center and meet with NASA officials
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will join a bipartisan congressional delegation traveling to Florida this weekend to attend the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.
Giffords, chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, and eight other members of Congress will use the 127th shuttle mission to highlight the importance of our country’s human spaceflight program.
“Only eight shuttle flights are planned before the program ends in 2010,” Giffords said. “When it does, an era of tremendous scientific discovery and exploration will end with it. We cannot allow this to happen. America’s space program is directly responsible for some of our most significant technological advancements. For 50 years it has ignited our imaginations and lifted up our spirits. We must recommit ourselves to it anew.”
Endeavour is scheduled to blast into space at 7:17 a.m. EST on Saturday, June 13. This is Endeavour’s 23rd trip into space and the 29th shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Among the goals of Endeavor’s 16-day mission is an expansion of the station’s Japanese laboratory.
Endeavour’s crew of seven astronauts includes Julie Payette of the Canadian Space Agency. In October 2007, Payette participated in a video conference call with students from Empire High School in Vail, Arizona. The call was aimed at promoting science and math education, and to familiarize students with the space program. It was organized by Giffords and also included her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.
In addition to witnessing the launch, the congressional delegation will tour the Kennedy Space Center and meet with NASA officials and employees. Other members of the delegation are:
Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL-24)
Mike Conaway (R-TX-11)
Jim Costa (D-CA-20)
Parker Griffith (D-AL-5)
Ralph Hall (R-TX-4)
Randy Neugebauer (R-TX-19)
Pete Olson (R-TX-22)
Aaron Schock (R-IL-18)