Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is married to a Jersey boy - Astronaut Mark E. Kelly, whose identical twin brother, Scott, is likewise an astronaut. Kelly was on his way to Arizona Saturday to be by his wife`s side as she recovered from a gunshot wound to the head.
Giffords was shot at point-blank range during a political appearance at a grocery store Saturday morning in her home state of Arizona.
"My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now," Giffords, a Democrat, tweeted about thirty minutes before she was shot. "Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later."
The power couple met in China eight years ago when they both served on a committee to help stregthen relations between the U.S. and China. She made the first move a year later and invited Kelly to Arizona, where he joined her on a prison tour for their first date.
"She had it all," Kelly told the New York Times in 2007. "Beautiful, smart, hard-working, balanced, fun to be with, and she laughed at my jokes."
Giffords and Kelly married later a three-year, long-distance courtship. He lives in Houston. She lives in Tucson and Washington.
"It is tricky," Giffords once told The Arizona Republic. "But we knew what we were getting into."
Former Labor secretary Robert Reich toasted the two at their wedding ceremony as "a bride who moves at a velocity that exceeds that of anyone else in Washington, and a groom who moves at a velocity that exceeds 17,000 miles per hour,"according to the Times.
Mark and Scott Kelly consider West Orange, N.J. home. They are both Navy Captains and both Shuttle Commanders. They`ve been tweeting about their space-training experiences and had hoped to be in space at the same time last year, but that didn`t happen.
Scott, who is in orbit right now, has been told about the shooting.
Mark and Gabrielle have two daughters from his first marriage.
First Published: Jan 8, 2011 5:04 PM EST