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

REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS/FACEBOOK

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.

By National Journal staff

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

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.

(RELATED: Wasserman Schultz: Giffords Has a Long Way to Go Before Full Recovery | Giffords Returns to House Floor | 2011's Most Inspiring Stories | The Recovery of Giffords)

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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