Husband: Giffords wants to return to work

HOUSTON, April 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in January, is eager to get back to work, her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, said Friday.

In an interview with CBS Evening News, Kelly talked of what Giffords, D-Ariz., wants in her future.

"One thing she frequently comes back to is, you know, going back to work, going back to her office," Kelly told CBS. "And you know, how important it is for her to serve her constituents. She talks about that all the time, going back to Tucson. I mean, she wants to get back to Tucson. She wants to get back to her district. She wants to get back to Washington."

Giffords is expected to make her first public appearance since she was shot next Friday when space shuttle Endeavour launches with Kelly in command in what is supposed to be its final mission.

While Giffords recovers at a Houston rehabilitation center, her staff have become advocates for better insurance coverage for people with traumatic brain injuries, The Washington Post reported. In a letter this month to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Pia Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, said insurance plans offered under the new healthcare law should allow everyone to get the rehabilitation services Gifford has received.

A college dropout, Jared Loughner, has been charged with shooting 19 people, killing six, at a Giffords constituents event in Tucson. Investigators believe she was his primary target.