The shuttle is an amazing craft..

I have seen it fly on the back of a 747 when they brought it to Palmdale, Ca to have it refurbished...

I have also held a real shuttle tile in my hand.

The tiles are made of silica (sand) and are sooo light....thei are like a very porous foam.

The most amazing part about the tiles is that there are thousands on the belly of the ship-al hand glued and each one is
numbered and custom cut and fitted....

One of the most amazing things that I have seen is a tile heated until it glows red......As the edges cool off you can pick it up while the center of it is still glowing!

I thought I heard someone say the tile was still about 1,000 degrees F, In at the center.

The camera that gave the view of the outside of the shuttle was made by a company in Pasadena, It's a one use camera and costs about 100,000 dollars to build...





But you can't develop the pictures at the photo shop thought...