summers owns a tee shirt printing shop in titusville.ing my business right now. >> reporter: percentage wise? >> probably close to 50%. >> reporter: orders from other companies have dried up. summers lost his home to foreclosure last year. he's hoping to save his company by taking it online. >> if you drive down the street down the main thoroughfares in titusville it's not usually to see a third of the business empty. look at the malls. we don't have a mall anymore. >> reporter: are you worried? >> absolutely. i think everybody in this community is very worried. >> reporter: when the apollo program ended in the 1970s, titusville became a ghost town. the shuttle program brought it back to life but it's no longer the only industry in town. th lauril le e thompson's family opened the dixie lee restaurant in 1983, the year the shuttle "challenger" took its first flight. >> remember, this is not the end of the space program. >> reporter: today thompson employees 120 people, her restaurant seats nearly 500, and tourists are her mainstay. >> th

. >> reporter: titusville has been saying good-bye.as had a better view of americans going into space -- than this small town on strip of land just 15 miles across the indian river from the launch pad. >> look at that. don't they look like baby lobsters? >> reporter: and for thousands of residents, such as laura lee thompson a former shrimp boat captain, koching the liftoff has become a way of life. >> it's our space wall and where we got autographed pictures of the astronauts here. >> reporter: she opened this restaurant way training boot from apollo and other artifacts to draw launch crowds into her lobby. >> a population of 43,000, and there will be several hundred thousand people here. our population quadruples. >> reporter: of course, the town's role of the yankee stadium of man's space flight began much further back. in the 196 0s when the mercury, gemini and apollo missions fascinated the world's fascination and when man loond landed on the moon. >> one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> reporter: no place was pr

it really is. >> reporter: titusville has been saying good-bye.going into space than this small town on a strip of land just 15 miles across the indian river from the launch pad. >> look at that. don't they look like baby lobsters? >> reporter: and for thousands of residents such as laura lee thomps thompson, a former shrimp boat captain, watching the liftoffs have become a way of life. >> this is our space wall. so this is where we've got some autographed pictures of astronauts here. >> reporter: she opened the restaurant to draw lunch crowds into her lobby. >> we have a population of 43,000, and there'll be several hundred thousand people here. so our population, it like triples or quadruples. >> reporter: but of course the town's role as the yankee stadium of man's space flight began much further back, in the 1960s, when the mercury, gemini, and apal low missions ignited the world's imagination. and when the man landed on the moon -- >> that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> reporter: to place was prouder. so proud that s

. >> it had been two days, six hours and 20 minutes since 1 million people crowded into titusville, cocoaeach and cape canaveral for the launch. now, nearly 30 years later, half a million people staked out their spots in the same places. among them, bobbie tenpin. he was 18 when his uncle, an aerospace company employee, brought him to see crippen and young lift off. now he was back. >> this is the end of an era. a decades-long era. and there will be nothing like it again. >> from georgia, bobbie brought his kids this time. spencer is 10. >> it's going to be awesome. >> briar 12. >> from here it's going to be a little bat going into the sky. >> it's going to be big, briar. >> maybe. >> it will be the final mission for discovery. >> on a warm february afternoon, discovery was about to make its final flight. history to be witnessed. >> wake them up in the middle of the night, take them out in the middle of the country to look at asteroids, meteor showers. and i want them to see the space shuttle take off. i've seen it and i want them to have the same opportunity. >> people pass the time play

. >> it had been two days, six hours and 20 minutes since 1 million people crowded into titusville, cocoand cape canaveral for the launch. now, nearly 30 years later, half a million people staked out their spots in the same places. among them, bobbie ten pin. he was 18 when his uncle, an aerospace company employee, brought him to see crippen and young lift off. now he was back. >> this is the end of an era. a decades-long era. and there will be nothing like it again. >> from georgia, bobbie brought his kids this time. spencer is 10. >> it's going to be awesome. >> briar 12. >> from here it's going to be a little bat going into the sky. >> it's going to be big, briar. >> maybe. >> it will be the final mission for discovery. >> on a warm february afternoon, discovery was about to make its final flight. history to be witnessed. >> wake them up in the middle of the night, take them out in the middle of the country to look at asteroids, meteor showers. and i want them to see the space shuttle take off. i've seen it and i want them to have the same opportunity. >> people pass the time playing g

in titusville, more than 10% of the people who live here are losing their jobs. at the diner, paul has seen his regular customers leave one at a time. >> you know them by name. the next thing you know they're gone because of getting laid off. you know, i know of five more people that are getting laid off on the 22nd. >> reporter: but the mayor has faith in the people here. >> they're the kind of people who helped put a man on the moon, helped fly a shuttle program for 30 years, helped build an international space station. these are not people that shy away from a challenge. >> reporter: they never have. now, up and down the space coast they're hoping, hoping that the commercial rockets that will replace the shuttle, that they will bring jobs and eventually nasa's deep space program will bring jobs. but those programs are years away. ann? >> thanks. >>> it is now 7:18. once again, here's matt. >> if you were enthrawled by britain's royal wedding, you will love what's happening at buckingham palace. michelle, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, matt. so you remem

pictures out of titusville, florida, close to cape canaveral. why we're showing them. this is from yesterday. heavy rain. when these storms hit they've been delivering 1 to 3 inches of heavy rain and look at this flooding that happened immediately in that range. there's the graphic. >>> there's a lot of discussion about a shuttle launch. if you can't launch these are the conditions, thunderstorms within 20 nautical miles. winds in excess of 30 miles an hour. a quick look at the boards. shows you we have thunderstorms in a lot of locations so stay up with your local abc stations. >> we're live in a steamy times square -- actually we're in centrall park and will have mor in the next half hour. >>> now to that theft. the picasso drawing stolen in broad daylight by a man who hailed a cab. neal karlinsky has more. >> reporter: in the "thomas crowne affair." he plays a perfect plan. sometimes reality is a little less exciting. police in stance say their art thief is 30 kwlrld mark lugo. not exactly thomas crowne but a guy from new jersey who just had flown in. >> in san fran

we've got some pictures out of titusville, florida, close to cape canaveral. why we're showing them. this is from yesterday. very heavy rain. when these storms hit they've been delivering 1 to 3 inches of heavy rain. and look at this flooding that happened immediately in that range. so, here's the graphic. there's a lot of discussion about a shuttle launch. and if you can't launch, these are the conditions. thunderstorms within 20 nautical miles. lightning within ten. winds in excess of 39 miles an hour. a quick look at the boards. shows you we have thunderstorms and thunder showers in a lot of locations around the country today. so, stay up with your local abc stations. we're live in a steamy times square -- actually, we're in central park. and we'll have more in the next half hour. george? elizabeth? >> all right, sam. thanks so much. >>> now, to that theft that mystified police. the picasso drawing stolen in broad dadaight by a man who simply hailed a cab. abc's neal karlinsky has more. >> reporter: in "the thomas crowne affair," pierce brosnan plays a dash

think of titusville, which is 15 miles up the road near cape canaveral where a lot of nasa employees work, 15,000 people will be laid off because this is the last shuttle launch. so the ploemt for people who live here who work here bitter sweet. they made a lot of money today because of the shuttle launch but this is the last time. >> they will come up with the next big thing down there for folks in florida. carol costello, appreciate that. >> reporter: you heard nate and john, they will. >> they'll be there. glad a couple guys stuck around as well. good to see you as always. to our viewers as we come up on the bottom the hour here, jaycee dugard speak out about her time in captivity. you will hear what she has to say next. >>> crossing the bottom of the hour here on friday afternoon. here are some of the stories we're keeping a close eye on now. alabama, civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit today challenging the new immigration law. the law, which is seen as toughest in the nation, signed by governor bentley last month and is set to take effect september 1st. the lawsuit claims