NASA says the first of its modified fuel tanks will be ready to roll out of a Michoud, La., plant in November, the Houston Chronicle reported Friday.

Once extensive safety changes to the $40 million fuel tank that launches the space shuttle are completed, no foam chunks larger than a hamburger bun will be able to break from the tank's tapered nose, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

The renovations have been highly scrutinized since a briefcase-size chunk of foam peeled from a 154-foot-long tank at liftoff and damaged the left wing of Columbia, causing its deadly breakup on re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003.

NASA will transport the first of the modified tanks by barge to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it will be mated to the shuttle Discovery. NASA has targeted March or April for Discovery's liftoff on the first post-accident flight.