Walt Adams monitors a spent booster as it's towed by the Freedom Star ship through Port Canaveral.

As daylight breaks, Walt Adams, a space shuttle solid rocket booster retrieval and dive supervisor, monitors a spent booster as it's towed by the Freedom Star retrieval ship through Port Canaveral in Florida on a journey to Hangar AF at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The booster was used during space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 launch from NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A on Feb. 24. The shuttle’s two solid rocket booster casings and associated flight hardware are recovered in the Atlantic Ocean after every launch by Freedom Star and Liberty Star. The boosters impact the Atlantic about seven minutes after liftoff and the retrieval ships are stationed about 10 miles from the impact area at the time of splashdown. After the spent segments are processed, they will be transported to Utah, where they will be refurbished and stored, if needed. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky