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Pima Air and Space Museum
Space Shuttle Thermal Protection Tile
A sample thermal protection tile from the Space Shuttle's lower wing section. Each Space Shuttle was covered in more than 24,000 such tiles to protect the spacecraft from the extreme heat (up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit) created during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. These tiles were made of silica fibers fused together with various chemicals and covered with a black glass coating.
The crawler is in the foreground with the operations building behind it. The empty payload canistes sits in the upper right corner.
First off, yes, I know that this is two people. But once you have been married for so long, you become one.
Anywho, this past Saturday my friend called me up at the last minute and asked if I wanted to drive to Titusville, which btw is like 3 hours from here, to see the last night space shuttle launch. I didn't have much of anything going on, so I said sure, why not. We left town about 10:30 that night and drove down there. Finally made it about 1:40 and just hung out in the car until 4am. The launch was supposed to happen at 4:30. We eventually made our way to the water and then just waited. NASA was debating whether or not it was goin to be a go. The space was kinda limited so we got really comfy with our neighbors,
Here's what I know:
They were from Minneapolis.
They flew down specifically for the shuttle launch.
Only came into town with the clothes on their back.
They were flying back out at 8am.
They had never seen a shuttle launch.
He owned a nice camera, a Nikon, if I remember right.
They really liked our weather.
But the really sad thing is that the shuttle launch got scrubbed that night. They had to fly back home without having seen it. Jen and I eventually made our way back to the car and made it back to Gville around 9am. No sleep was had, but totally worth it.