KSC-2012-1808

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Gotcha! A raccoon triggers a motion-activated remote camera set up for this purpose at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These nocturnal creatures are abundant in the area and usually do not venture out in the daytime except when breeding or caring for their young. In the background are the lights on Launch Pad 39A. Kennedy and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge mutually reside on 140,000 acres on central Florida’s east coast. The area’s coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks provide habitats for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals, including about 331 species of birds. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Tony Gray