Florida Picture Gallery, All Gone

I really like this shot. You can see what a great view we had from our vantage point. We watched the rocket lift off and streak away into space. The entire event only took about five minutes to watch and was well worth the 3 hour wait. The large building to the right of the launch pad is the Shuttle Recovery Building (SRB). That's where the shuttle is taken after landing to check it over. They have to check every inch of the heat shielding after landing. The material is made from a ceramic foam, feather light and very fragile. The insulation is called LI-0900. This material, is the thermal protection system that covers 70 percent of the exterior of the craft, is comprised of a low density silica material that can withstand repeated temperature cycles from -170 deg. F to 2300 deg. F (during reentry) without degradation. Yet it can be crumbled in your hand like a clump Styrofoam .