Slideshow: Former Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

A look at the Arizona lawmaker's rise to prominence — from high school to Capitol Hill.

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By Kasie Hunt, NBC News

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' words during a brief opening statement at a Senate hearing on gun violence were careful, slow and deliberate.

But they were firm: "Too many children are dying," she said Wednesday, breaking up the syllables during her testimony to open a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun laws.

"It will be hard, but the time is NOW," said Giffords, who has embarked on an arduous recovery after being critically wounded at Tucson Safeway while meeting with constituents in early 2011. "You. Must. Act. Be bold. Be cour-ag-eous. Amer-i-cans are count-ing on you." Continue reading the full story.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Senate Judiciary Committee members, from left, Sen. John Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. John Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member Sen. John Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. John Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. John Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. John Richard Durbin (D-IL) listen to testimony during a hearing about gun control on Capitol Hill on Jan. 30 in Washington, D.C.

Denis Balibouse / Reuters

Mark Kelly, NASA astronaut and commander of mission STS-134, walks with NASA astronaut Greg Johnson, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and other roped party members walk from the Refuge des Cosmiques back to L'Aiguille du Midi near Mont-Blanc in Chamonix July 23.

Denis Balibouse / Reuters

Former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, center, stands with her husband Mark Kelly, right, NASA astronaut and commander of mission STS-134, and mountain guide Vincent Lameyre before Kelly and two other astronauts walked from L'Aiguille du Midi to the Refuge des Cosmiques near Mont-Blanc in Chamonix July 23.

Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

Saul Loeb / EPA

A look at the Arizona lawmaker's rise to prominence — from high school to Capitol Hill.

Launch slideshow

Reuters reports: CHAMONIX, France- Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from wounds after being shot last year, traveled high up into the French Alps on Monday with her astronaut husband Mark Kelly.

Giffords, who still uses a wheelchair much of the time, was on her first trip outside the United States since she was shot in the head by a gunman in January 2011 as she met local people outside a Tucson supermarket.

She rode the two-stage cable car to a station with spectacular views of Mont Blanc and other peaks in France, Italy and Switzerland. Full story

Matt York / AP

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired Capt. Mark Kelly, meet both active and retired airmen after serving a Thanksgiving meal to troops at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., on Nov. 24.

Matt York / AP

The AP reports:

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords helped serve a Thanksgiving meal to service members and retirees at a military base in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.

Giffords arrived in the dining hall at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base at midday Thursday wearing a ball cap and an apron with her nickname of "Gabby" sewn on the front. She was accompanied by her retired astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, who also donned an apron.

Giffords used only her left hand as she served, a sign that physical damage remains from the injuries she suffered when she was shot in January.

Kelly supported her from her left side as she worked the turkey station on the serving line. He served ham.

Afterward, she mingled with service members, exchanging pleasantries and mostly one word greetings and responses.

She did tell Airman 1st Class Millie Gray, of Kansas City, Mo., "Happy Thanksgiving, thank you for your service." Read the full story.

Denise Chow of SPACE.com reports: A Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan today, bringing NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts safely back to Earth after a months-long stay at the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-01M capsule touched down in Kazakhstan about 50 miles north of the town of Arkalyk on the snowy steppes of Central Asia at about 3:54 a.m. EDT.

Dmitry Kostyukov / AFP - Getty Images

A Russian Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and US astronaut Scott Kelly on board lands near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on March 16. The capsule carrying the previous crew of the International Space Station (ISS) landed successfully, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Onboard the Soyuz were the space station's Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russian flight engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri. They landed under harsh conditions, with ankle-deep snow and 30-knot winds reported by recovery crews.

"The Soyuz landed on its side, but in good shape," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said from the landing zone.

The wind apparently dragged the spacecraft by its parachute about 75 feet (nearly 23 meters), Navias added.

"You would think that was a scene out of the North Pole," Navias said, calling it "viciously cold" at one point. "It was a bull's-eye landing under very harsh conditions."

Dmitry Kostyukov / AFP - Getty Images

A Russian Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and US astronaut Scott Kelly on board lands near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on March 16.

Kelly is the twin brother of fellow NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who is set to command the space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission to the space station next month. Mark Kelly is the husband of injured Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering after being shot in the head during a Jan. 8 attack in Tucson that injured 13 people and killed six others.

Scott Kelly has said that he hopes to help his sister-in-law with her recovery when he returns home to Houston.

Read the full story.