NASA says the space shuttle Endeavour will honor former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with a flyover of her hometown, Tucson, on its way from Texas to a California museum where it
will be displayed, AP reports.
NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone says Thursday’s flyover was requested by Giffords’ husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who is the last person to fly the shuttle.
Malone says the flyover gives NASA the chance to recognize Giffords’ legacy as a longtime advocate and champion of American human spaceflight.
Giffords resigned from Congress earlier this year to focus on her recovery from wounds suffered in a 2011 attack in Tucson in which six people were killed and she and 12 others were injured.
The plane carrying the shuttle will fly low over several cities en route to California.
