H
specifier provided by the float-package.You said the distance is to narrow, i agree with you, but that can easily solved by inserting a
\vfill
between them.You don't need aIt is unexpected that the code works very well even after you remove \begin{figure} \end{figure}.
figure
-environment to insert a graphic. The figure-environment gives the picture and its caption the ability to float to good location inside of your document. In my example above I used the package capt-of to insert a caption.