CNN is getting political day during a two-day special report on firearms background checks. “Guns Under Fire: A CNN Special Report on Background Checks” will kick-off this evening on “AC360″ as Dana Bash interviews former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Piers Morgan and Wolf Blitzer will also discuss the issue on their respective shows.

Wednesday, the channel will present a number of special reports on background checks, including interviews and analysis on the issue (see all the reports after the jump). The reasoning behind the special report? “According to the latest polls, 9 out of 10 Americans support tougher background checks, so how is it that Congress can do nothing?” the channel says in a release.
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Unlike last time, all three cable news channels had extensive coverage of the Space Shuttle Enterprise’s final flight this morning.

Enterprise flew from Dulles airport to JFK, where it will eventually be transported to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan. While all three networks provided plenty of coverage of the flyby, MSNBC ended up missing the landing by about 10 seconds. The network was in a commercial break when the shuttle touched down.

All three channels had on former astronauts to talk about the shuttle during its flyby of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

MSNBC had commander Mark Kelly (who is also the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords), CNN had the first female Shuttle commander, Eileen Collins, while Fox News had former astronaut Pam Melroy.

In his first TV interview with an American outlet since the uprising began in his country earlier this year, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will speak to ABC’s Barbara Walters.

Walters questioned Syria’s leader on the human rights violations the UN has said his government is committing, as well as the harsh treatment and crackdown of protestors. The interview will air across all of the ABC News platforms on Wednesday, December 7, including a special edition of “Nightline” dedicated solely to Syria.

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After a number of delays, the Space Shuttle Endeavour is finally orbiting Earth. With the shuttle mission underway, “PBS NewsHour” will finally conduct its interview with Commander Mark Kelly and the shuttle crew tomorrow, May 19.

Miles O’Brien will conduct the Q&A starting around 6 AM ET, with questions culled from over 1,800 submitted by “NewsHour” viewers. The interview will stream live at Newshour.PBS.org and on NewsHour’s YouTube page.

Excerpts will run that evening on the “PBS NewsHour.”

The other big scheduled news event on Friday was the final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which was slated to happen shortly before 4 PM ET this afternoon.

Unfortunately, NASA scrubbed the launch, delaying it for at least 72 hours while engineers check the shuttle’s heating vents.

The networks all had staff on site at Cape Canaveral, as President Obama and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords were expected to attend the launch of Endevour, which is to by led by Captain Mark Kelly, Giffords’ husband.

The “PBS NewsHour,” Google and YouTube are partnering to offer viewers the chance to ask the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour questions… while they are in space.

Former CNN space, science and technology correspondent Miles O’Brien–who contributes to a number of PBS programs–will serve as moderator of the discussion.

The crew includes Commander Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot during a town hall in Arizona earlier this year, and is expected to attend the liftoff on Friday.

The “NewsHour” Q&A is slated for Monday, May 2 around 2:15 PM ET. Viewers can ask questions by clicking a link on the “NewsHour” website, on its YouTube channel, or be sending it via Twitter using the hashtag #utalk2nasa.

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A big week for Katie Couric.

Her newsmaking interview with Mark Kelly, the astronaut and husband of Rep. Gabby Giffords, airs tonight on the “Evening News.” Couric was on “The Early Show” discussing the interview as well. And now, she’s snagged the only U.S. interview with British Prime Minister David Cameron to be done the week of the royal wedding.

Couric leaves for for London tomorrow and will interview Cameron Wednesday. She’ll also get a tour of 10 Downing Street. The Cameron interview airs Wednesday on the “Evening News.” (Couric’s former co-anchor Matt Lauer interviewed Cameron two weeks ago. That interview is a part of NBC’s primetime special Wednesday).

Then there’s the matter of Couric’s future. CBS is expected to announce that Couric is leaving as anchor of the “Evening News” perhaps before her London departure.

Bloomberg has a bit more on where Couric may be going: think Disney.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric sat down with astronauts (and twin brothers) Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly, for an interview slated to air Monday, April 25 on the program.

Mark Kelly is the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot earlier this year in the massacre at Tucson. Kelly is also slated to command the final mission for the Space Shuttle Endeavor, scheduled to launch April 29. His brother Scott Kelly just returned from the International Space Station.

Mark Kelly talks about Giffords’ progress, as well as his mission. Couric will be on the “Early Show” Monday morning to preview the interview.

The Space Shuttle Discovery made its final launch just after 4:50 PM ET, carrying six astronauts to the International Space Station.

There is now only one more launch scheduled before the Shuttle program ends. That would be the launch of Endeavor, which is scheduled to lift off April 19, and will be commanded by Capt. Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Update: While Endeavor was originally slated to be the final shuttle launch, Atlantis is now scheduled to be the last, sometime in June.

All three cable news channels carried the launch live:

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Astronaut and Navy captain Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, spoke to “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams about his wife’s recovery.

Kelly gave his first TV interview back in January to “ABC World News” anchor Diane Sawyer. With his wife in rehab and making amazing progress, and his next (and last) shuttle mission looming just a few months away, he is giving an update on the situation.

Part one of the interview ran on “Today” this morning, with additional segments slated for this evening’s “Nightly News.”

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