Kennedy Space Center employees this morning unloaded the external tank expected to fly on the last shuttle mission. Around 9:30 a.m., the 15-story orange tank rolled out of the Pegasus barge that carried it 900 miles across the the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans, where a special send-off ceremony featuring a brass band was held last Thursday.
The Lockheed Martin Corp.-built tank, labeled ET-138, is scheduled to help launch Endeavour on the last scheduled shuttle mission, targeted for February following Discovery's November flight.
Another tank is needed for a potential rescue shuttle in case Endeavour sustains serious damage in flight. A final tank delivery is expected in October.
However, if Congress and the White House ask NASA to fly a third mission after the two now scheduled, NASA officials say the tank offloaded today would likely be switched to that flight. So it's likely to fly on the last shuttle mission, whichever that turns out to be.
The external tank feeds the shuttle's three main engines with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen during the eight-and-a-half minute climb to orbit.
IMAGE: By Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY
1 comment:
"if Congress and the White House ask NASA to fly a third mission after the two now scheduled, NASA officials say the tank offloaded today would likely be switched to that flight."
Why would that be?
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