Gabrielle Giffords

Gabrielle Giffords

As was hoped, a recoveringGabrielle Giffords watched her husband, Commander Mark Kelly, and his crew blast off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Monday morning.

As Kelly and five other Space Shuttle Endeavor astronauts began their 16-day mission to the International Space Station – Endeavor's 25th and final mission – Rep. Giffords, in a wheelchair, said, "Good stuff. Good stuff," according to the Arizona Congresswoman's aides, as quoted by National Public Radio.

"It was a very emotional moment and very inspirational," said Giffords's press officer Mark Kimble. "It reminds all of us why we are so devoted to her."

Also in attendance at the 8:56 a.m. Monday launch were Giffords's mother, Mark Kelly's twin brother (fellow astronaut Scott Kelly), Mark Kelly's children, a nurse and the spouses of crew members.

Reports say the Giffords spent some private time together in a beach house within the Kennedy Space Center compound on Sunday afternoon. Per family tradition, the two swapped wedding rings, a custom they do for all of Kelly's missions. Until his return Giffords will wear her husband's ring on a chain around her neck.

Giffords was brought to the Kennedy Space Station from the Houston rehabilitation facility where she is being treated for a severe head wound she sustained Jan. 8 when a gunman in Tucson attacked an event she was attending.

In all, six people were killed in the attack and, in addition to Giffords, 12 others were wounded.