#external tank

[keiteay]

Supposedly they were planning to haul this rocket fuel tank over to an outdoor exhibit space further inland, before they just threw their hands up and left it roadside 😂

[lonestarflight]

"This STS-29 mission onboard photo depicts the External Tank (ET) falling toward the ocean after separation from the Shuttle orbiter Discovery. The giant cylinder, higher than a 15-story building, with a length of 154-feet (47-meters) and a diameter of 27,5-feet (8.4-meters), is the largest single piece of the Space Shuttle. During launch, the ET also acts as a backbone for the orbiter and solid rocket boosters. In separate, internal pressurized tank sections, the ET holds the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer for the Shuttle's three main engines. During launch, the ET feeds the fuel under pressure through 17-inch (43.2-centimeter) ducts which branch off into smaller lines that feed directly into the main engines. Some 64,000 gallons (242,260 liters) of fuel are consumed by the main engines each minute. Machined from aluminum alloys, the Space Shuttle's ET is the only part of the launch vehicle that currently is not reused. After its 526,000 gallons (1,991,071 liters) of propellants are consumed during the first 8.5 minutes of flight, it is jettisoned from the orbiter and breaks up in the upper atmosphere, its pieces falling into remote ocean waters."

Date: March 13, 1989

NASA ID: 8904587

[nelc]

Space Shuttle External Tank venting oxygen

[therealuniverse]

Heading to visit some sites doesn't seem like a particularly good idea these days, so here's a trip taken prior to the pandemic to the visitor center at Kennedy Space Center, featuring the Shuttle Atlantis. The view looking up at the external tank and SRB assembly is amazing!

[epcotarchivist]

Shuttle rollout

[visionautiks]

super light weight

[earthstory]

Tornadoes hit New Orleans and NASA Facility

At least 7 tornadoes tore through Louisiana and Mississippi on February 7, killing one, injuring dozens, destroying homes, and even damaging the NASA facility where the new Space Launch System (SLS) rockets and Orion spacecraft are being built. Some of the tornadoes hit New Orleans (NOLA), destroying homes that had to be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.

Big storms are not unusual for Louisiana during winter, but the strength of Tuesday’s tornadoes were atypical. It’s the first time an EF-3 tornado has hit NOLA. EF stands for “Enhanced Fujita Scale”, a set of wind estimates used to describe tornadoes. It means that the tornado produced winds ranging from 136 to 165 mph (219 to 266 kph). The EF-3 that cut through NOLA destroyed an estimated 300 buildings with and another 640 seriously damaged. Some of those buildings were homes that had to be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the city in August of 2005.

Among the damaged are buildings of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility located in eastern NOLA. NASA estimates that 40 to 50 percent of the buildings were impacted. Michoud’s main manufacturing building has some impressive holes in it from the storm and the first external tank ever mounted to a Space Shuttle for testing was destroyed, but luckily the SLS and Orion spacecraft were unscathed. All 3,500 employees have been accounted for and only minor injuries were reported. The facility is closed while repairs are being made.

Other tornadoes touched down near Baton Rouge and four other communities in southeastern Louisiana, and one more in Mississippi. Damage assessments are on-going.

RE

Photo Credits: Screen grab of tornado from video: NASA, http://bit.ly/2k5kg12 Aerial image: Gerald Herbert/AP, http://n.pr/2k3afGQ NASA Facility: NASA/MAF/Steven Seipel, http://go.nasa.gov/2kUKGXB References: http://n.pr/2k3afGQ http://wapo.st/2lm5Z5r https://www.nasa.gov/michoud http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/ef-scale.html http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-020817a-michoud-tornado-shuttle-external-tank.html

[historical-spaceflight]

The Space Transportation System, while designed to be reusable, had one major component that was thrown away following the orbiter’s separation from the Solid Rocket Boosters and ascent into LEO - the big orange External Tank (ET). The ET was jettisoned 70 miles above Earth, after providing fuel for the three SSMEs, breaking up in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. The ET was the backbone of the shuttle stack, and had to handle the force of the two SRBs beside it, as well as the orbiter’s main engines, a total of 7.8 million pounds of thrust.

While most ETs look the same, several changes over the 30 years of the shuttle program saw improved, weight reduced tanks flown, allowing the orbiter to enter higher orbits with heavier payloads. 

During the shuttle program, the ET was assembled by Martin Marietta (Lockheed Martin) at the Michoud Facility in New Orleans, and were delivered by barge to Kennedy Space Center. The ET consisted of a liquid oxygen tank in the forward (nose) area, and a larger liquid hydrogen tank in the aft. The intertank area consists of electrical systems and is unpressurized. 

A few variations of ET were used, each new variation saving weight over the previous. STS-1 thru STS-7 flew the Standard Wight (External) Tank, or SWT, which weighed about 77,000 pounds unloaded. 

Interestingly, STS-1 and STS-2 saw the only flights of the ET painted white. The white paint was applied to protect the tanks from extended exposure from UV light, however this proved unnecessary. All subsequent ETs from STS-3 onward were the iconic orange color. Removing the white paint saved the SWT an extra 600 pounds. 

Following STS-7, the Light Weight Tank (LWT) would improve weight reduction further with the removal of the anti-geyser line, which brought the weight down to 66,000 pounds. The LWT would be the most flown tank variation over the life of the shuttle program. 

The LWT was also the variant flown on STS-107, where a piece of foam insulation separated from the tank at the bipod ramp , which connects the tank to the orbiter, striking a fatal blow to Columbia’s port-side wing. 

The last tank variant to be flown would be the Super Light Weight Tank (SLWT), flown on all missions following STS-91 which exceptions to STS-99 and STS-107. A large portion of the SLWT was constructed with an aluminum-lithium alloy, bringing the SLWT weight to a featherweight 58,000 pounds. This reduction allowed for a significantly heavier payload to be delivered to the high-inclination orbit of the ISS. 

The orange color begins as a lighter orange-yellow when the insulation foam is applied. As the completed shuttle stack rolls out from the VAB and the ET is exposed to UV light, the insulation becomes darker. No two tanks are ever exactly the same shade of orange. 

One can see the legacy of the orange ET in the core-stage for the in-development SLS rocket, due to launch in late 2018. These core stages are also being build at the Michoud Assembly Facility, and will store liquid hydrogen and liquid nitrogen, like the STS External Tanks that came before. 

A LWT will be displayed with Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center as a full, upright shuttle stack after the exhibit is completed in 2019.