Gabby Giffords, husband astronaut to speak at YSU next week

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University Skeggs Lecture Series will welcome Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly at 7 p.m. next Thursday in Stambaugh Auditorium.

Giffords, a former U.S. congresswoman, was the target of an assassination attempt in 2011. Kelly, her husband, is a retired NASA astronaut.

Giffords represented Arizona’s 8th Congressional District when, in January 2011 she was a victim of an assassination attempt near Tuscon. Six people were killed and 13 injured in the shooting; Giffords suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

Kelly, a retired Navy captain, flew his first space shuttle mission in 2001, and also piloted flights in 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Jackie LeViseur, YSU events director, said Kelly will be doing a presentation in the Ward Beecher Planetarium before the lecture to give YSU students a chance to interact with a professional in their field.