The space shuttle Endeavor will not launch today because of technical problems. It was scheduled to take off with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s husband, Mark Kelly, in command. Giffords is in Florida to attend the event, and the Obamas also announced they will be there.

Courtesy of the FLORIDA TODAY team, TucsonCitizen.com will provide a livestream of the launch, including interviews with the astronauts. You can check out more in-depth coverage of the launch from our colleagues in Florida on their space team blog, The Flame Trench. For an excellent story providing background and more on the Tucson connection, check out the Arizona Republic’s coverage. Below are a series of photos of Kelly as he prepares for the launch. Bookmark this page to check out the live report.

Gannett, David Cohen/Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times

Mark Kelly reads letters to his wife Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords inside her room at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, TX. Giffords is recovering from a gun shot wound to the head during an assassination attempt while she was meeting with constituents in Tucson. Photo by Pia Carusone/Exclusive To The Arizona Republic

The STS-134 crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center Sunday to get ready for their Friday afternoon launch on the space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. Commander Mark Kelly leads the crew to the microphone to speak to the media there at the landing facility. Photo by Michael R. Brown/FLORIDA TODAY

Commander Mark Kelly exits his T-38 aircraft after arriving at KSC. Photo by Michael R. Brown/FLORIDA TODAY

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Off Topic, Tragedy in Tucson, Tucson Tragedy. Tags for this post: Endeavor, FLORIDA TODAY, Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly, space shuttle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.