Tue, Sep 21, 2010
It Has Been Loaded Onto A Barge For The Trip From Louisiana
Beginning Tuesday
The external fuel tank that will power the last planned space
shuttle into orbit will be shipped Tuesday to NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center in Florida. The tank has been restored to flight
configuration at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans
after sustaining damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
File Photo Courtesy NASA
The tank, designated ET-122, will support shuttle Endeavour's
flight targeted for launch in February.
At Michoud, ET-122 was rolled out to an enclosed barge, which
will carry the tank 900 miles to Kennedy Space Center during a five
to six-day sea journey. ET-122 is expected to arrive at Kennedy
Sunday, September 26.
During the hurricane, the roof of the building that housed the
tank was ripped off by high winds. After falling debris damaged the
tank, it was removed from the shuttle flight manifest. Lockheed
Martin engineers assessed the damage, and prepared and executed a
tank restoration plan.
The Shuttle Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the External Tank Project.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. of Denver is the prime
contractor. For more than 29 years of shuttle flights, Lockheed
Martin workers at Michoud have built and delivered 135 flight tanks
to NASA's Space Shuttle Program.
Standing 15 stories tall and almost 28 feet in diameter, the
external tank is the largest element of the shuttle transportation
system, which also includes the orbiter, main engines and twin
solid rocket boosters. During a shuttle launch, the external tank
delivers 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
propellants to the shuttle's three main engines. Despite the tank's
size, the aluminum skin covering it is only one-eighth-inch thick
in most areas. Yet, it withstands more than 6.5 million pounds of
thrust during liftoff and ascent. The tank is the only shuttle
component that is not reused.
More News
Aero Linx: JAARS Nearly 1.5 billion people, using more than 5,500 languages, do not have a full Bible in their first language. Many of these people live in the most remote parts of>[...]
'Airplane Bounced Twice On The Grass Runway, Resulting In The Nose Wheel Separating From The Airplane...' Analysis: The pilot reported, “upon touchdown, the plane jumped back>[...]
"Burt is best known to the public for his historic designs of SpaceShipOne, Voyager, and GlobalFlyer, but for EAA members and aviation aficionados, his unique concepts began more t>[...]
"Polaris Dawn, the first of the program’s three human spaceflight missions, is targeted to launch to orbit no earlier than summer 2024. During the five-day mission, the crew >[...]
There Are SO Many Ways To Get YOUR Aero-News! It’s been a while since we have reminded everyone about all the ways we offer your daily dose of aviation news on-the-go...so he>[...]