Doctor: Giffords recovering 'beautifully'

HOUSTON, March 11 (UPI) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is recovering so well she may be able to travel to Florida for the launch of her husband's space shuttle mission, doctors said Friday.

Dr. Dong Kim, director of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, said Giffords, D-Ariz., has made tremendous progress in the two months since she was critically wounded in a shooting in Tucson, the Los Angeles Times said. He said she has begun to walk with help and is able to communicate verbally.

"She is responding beautifully," Kim said. "She is gaining more movement, more ability to do things for herself."

Doctors removed Giffords' tracheotomy tube last week, Kim said.

Giffords does not remember the shooting, which Kim said is normal for people with traumatic head injuries. But he said she can recall other events.

The trip next month would probably be her first since her transfer to a Houston rehab center a few days after the shooting Jan. 8. Giffords has not been seen in public since the shooting, The New York Times reported.

Mark Kelly, Giffords' husband, suggested in the aftermath of the shooting that NASA train a possible substitute to command the Endeavour's last mission. But he later announced he would be making the trip.

Six people were killed and 12 others wounded in the shooting. Investigators said the alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, targeted Giffords.