Giffords Visits D.C. for Husband's Retirement -- PICTURES

By National Journal staff

Updated: October 6, 2011 | 4:21 p.m.
August 1, 2011 | 8:28 p.m.

Kelly and Giffords, who have been married for almost four years, embrace each other after Kelly receives the Legion of Merit from Vice President Joe Biden. (REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS/FACEBOOK)

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., returned to Washington on Thursday to attend a retirement ceremony for her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. In the gallery below, we take a look at the steps toward recovery she's taken since suffering a gunshot wound to the head in January.

Gabrielle Giffords's Recovery—PICTURES

<p>President Barack Obama greets retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, before delivering his State of the Union address.</p> - PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP

<p>Vice President Joe Biden greets retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, before President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.</p> - PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/AP

<p>Giffords was on hand at the White House to attend a military retirement ceremony for her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.</p> - REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS/FACEBOOK

<p>Kelly and Giffords, who have been married for almost four years, embrace each other after Kelly receives the Legion of Merit from Vice President Joe Biden.</p> - REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS/FACEBOOK

<p>Vice President <strong>Joe Biden</strong> presided over the ceremony in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.</p> - REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS/FACEBOOK

<p>Kelly, who commanded the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour this summer, retires from a career that spanned aviation combat missions in the Gulf War and 15 years worth of space flights with NASA.</p> - REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS/FACEBOOK

<p>This is the sixth time Giffords, pictured here after the ceremony with Kelly and House Minority Leader <strong>Nancy Pelosi</strong>, D-Calif., has left Houston, where she is has undergone months-worth of intense rehabilitation.</p> - REP. NANCY PELOSI/FLICKR

<p>Rep. <strong>Gabrielle Giffords</strong>, D-Ariz., sits in a car with her husband Mark Kelly as she leaves the Capitol after she appeared on the House floor to vote on debt legislation on Monday.</p> - PHOTO: AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH

<p>Giffords prepares to enter a car as she leaves the Capitol. Giffords told CNN: "I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy."</p> - PHOTO: AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH

<p>There was no hint of what was about to happen, when suddenly, as the debt-ceiling vote was proceeding, Giffords could be seen being escorted onto the floor by Rep. <strong>Debbie Wasserman Schultz</strong>, D-Fla., a close, personal friend. Members erupted in applause.</p> - PHOTO: CNN SCREEN CAPTURE

<p>She arrived at the Capitol before the vote. Giffords has been recovering from a gunshot wound to the head sustained on January 8 in Tucson, Ariz.</p> - PHOTO: TOM WILLIAMS/ROLL CALL

<p>One of two of the first pictures of Giffords issued after the Tucson shooting. This photo was posted to Giffords's Facebook page on June 12.</p> - PHOTO: HANDOUT

<p>In this photo taken from Facebook, Giffords is show with an unidentified woman. This is one of two photos posted to Giffords's Facebook page on June 12.</p> - PHOTO: HANDOUT

<p>In the first photos of Giffords released after the shooting, Mark Kelly holds the hand of his wife in her hospital room.</p> - PHOTO: HANDOUT

<p>Giffords was shot through the head by Jared Lee Loughner at a “Congress on Your Corner” event outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. Loughner claimed six lives, Giffords’s not among them.</p> - PHOTO: HANDOUT

<p>On January 5, House Speaker <strong>John Boehner</strong> reenacts the swearing in of Giffords on Capitol Hill in Washington.</p> - PHOTO: AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH

<p>Giffords is shown here giving a tour of the Capitol to Shuttle Discovery STS-124 astronauts Mission Specialist Akihiko Hoshide and Giffords' husband, Commander Mark Kelly in 2008.</p> - PHOTO: BILL CLARK/CQ-ROLL CALL GROUP

<p>Giffords testified before the House Budget Committee n February 2008.</p> - PHOTO: CQ-ROLL CALL GROUP

Gabrielle Giffords's Recovery—PICTURES

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