CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - Looking back on the horror of that Saturday in January, this seems miraculous today: that Mark Kelly would indeed command the next-to-last space shuttle flight and that his wounded wife, Gabrielle Giffords, would be here in Florida watching.

Yet that is what is expected to happen Friday, provided doctors approve her travel.

The Kelly-Giffords ordeal has been a national drama since January 8, when the congresswoman was shot in the head at a meet-and-greet in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona.

The couple's love story - her struggle to survive a serious brain injury and her remarkable progress, and his devotion to both his wife and NASA - has overshadowed Endeavour's final voyage and the looming end of the shuttle program.

It's all about Mark and Gabby.

"They're America's sweethearts," said Susan Still Kilrain, a former space shuttle pilot.

On a day fit for princes and princesses - Britain's Prince William will wed Kate Middleton that morning - Endeavour's scheduled 3:47 pm (1947 GMT) blastoff is the big draw for tourists and residents on Florida's Space Coast.

The Obama family will be here, as will a congressional contingent and an estimated 40,000 other NASA guests. Plus, hundreds of thousands are expected to jam surrounding beaches and roadways, all eager to catch one of the last two space shuttle launches.

No one, it seems, can resist the real-life drama surrounding the 47-year-old astronaut and the 40-year-old congresswoman, married just three years when a bullet changed everything. The shooting rampage outside a supermarket left six dead and 13 injured, including Giffords.