Shuttle External Tank On Route To Cape

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Shuttle External Tank ET-120 rolls out of the Michoud Assembly Facility early on the morning of Dec. 31, 2004. Credit: NASA.

NASA to unveil better rocket fuel
NASA's new rocket fuel promises to be a huge step forward in the space agency's two-year effort to resume shuttle missions, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The new rocket fuel tank will be unveiled next week, or months before NASA's planned May 15 launch of Discovery.

The fuel will be shipped from Louisiana to Florida on New Year's Eve, NASA officials said.

Pending final inspections and favorable weather, the 154-foot-tank should arrive via barge at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral within five to six days of leaving the Lockheed Martin production facility outside New Orleans, the Chronicle said its copyright report.

Safety revisions to the fuel tank represent a major component of NASA's return-to-flight strategy since the Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia shuttle disaster.

NASA has spent nearly $200 million to reduce the kind of tank insulation foam losses that caused the fatal wing damage, the report said.

Michoud LA (SPX) Jan 01, 2005
The longest journey for the Space Shuttle's External Tank isn't its 69-mile climb during the Shuttle's eight-and-a-half-minute liftoff and ascent into space. Just what is? Here's a hint: Take your seasick pills!

The External Tank's longest journey is an approximate 900-mile trip by covered barge from NASA’s Michoud Space Systems Assembly Facility near New Orleans, around the tip of Florida, to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, about half-way up Florida's Atlantic coastline. It does, in fact, spend more time on the water than in the air.

The External Tank that will help launch Space Shuttle Discovery on its next mission, which is targeted for late spring 2005, left New Orleans Dec. 31 for its four-to-five day, coast-hugging trek from the Mississippi River-Gulf of Mexico Outlet to Florida's Banana River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Shipping the tank known as ET- 120 is an important milestone for the NASA team that has spent 23 months working on modifications that will make the tank safer during liftoff.

The gigantic, rust-colored External Tank is the largest element of the Space Shuttle system, which also includes the Orbiter, Space Shuttle Main Engines, and Solid Rocket Boosters. It measures 154 feet tall and 27.6 feet wide -- as long as half a football field and as wide as four sport utility vehicles parked side-by-side. The tank is the only Shuttle component that cannot be reused.

The External Tank move follows other recent Return to Flight milestones, like the stacking of Solid Rocket Boosters and installation of Discovery's main engines.

The Return to Flight mission, designated STS-114, is targeted for a launch opportunity beginning in May 2005. The seven-member Discovery crew will fly to the International Space Station primarily to test and evaluate new procedures for flight safety, including Space Shuttle inspection and repair techniques.

SHUTTLE NEWS

Space Shuttle Milestone: NASA Installs Main Engines On Discovery

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 13, 2004
NASA completed installation last week of the three main engines that will help launch Space Shuttle Discovery on its Return to Flight mission. Installation was completed Dec. 8 at the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

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