Facebook page Sunday.

The photos were taken May 17, a day after Giffords witnessed the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour with her husband Commander Mark Kelly aboard. She was scheduled to have skull surgery the next day.

Edit: Despite this great news, a Giffords' staffer gave this "blunt assessment" -and reality-check- of where she is today.

"She's living. She's alive. But if she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before," Carusone said. "There's no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won't plateau today and that she'll keep going and that when she does plateau, it will be at a place far away from here."