Space Forum / Shuttle / September 2005

Allard Beutel/Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-4769/3749)

Jessica Rye
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(Phone: 321/867-2468)

Martin Jensen
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256/544-0034)

RELEASE: 05-287

NASA SHIPS SHUTTLE FUEL TANK TO NEW ORLEANS FOR MODIFICATION

Less than a month after being hit by Hurricane Katrina, NASA's Michoud
Assembly Facility in New Orleans is gearing up to restart processing
space shuttle fuel tanks. The work will address foam loss during
Space Shuttle Discovery's launch in July.

External tank #119, which is expected to be used in the next shuttle
mission, departed NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida today. The
huge, orange external tank is being transported by NASA's solid
rocket booster retrieval ship Freedom Star. It will travel down
Florida's Banana River en route to the Gulf of Mexico-Mississippi
River outlet on its 900-mile journey. It's expected to arrive at
Michoud in four or five days.

"The facility is ready to receive the tank and the Michoud team is
eager to get their hands on it," said External Tank Project Manager
Sandy Coleman. Michoud workers will begin limited testing on the tank
as soon as it arrives. Hurricane recovery efforts at the facility
have progressed better than anticipated. Power has been restored to
the entire Michoud complex, and temporary repairs have been made to
damaged buildings. External tank #120 will be shipped from Kennedy to
the facility in the next few weeks.

The external tank, 27.6 feet wide and 154 feet tall, is the largest
element of the shuttle system, which also includes the orbiter, main
engines and solid rocket boosters. Despite the tank's size, its
aluminum skin is only one-eighth-inch thick in most areas, but
withstands more than 6.5 million pounds of thrust during liftoff and
ascent. The tank is the only shuttle component that cannot be reused.

During a launch, the external tank delivers 535,000 gallons of liquid
hydrogen and oxygen propellants to the three main engines, which
power the shuttle to orbit. The tank is covered by polyurethane-like
foam, with an average thickness of about one inch. The foam insulates
the propellants, keeps ice from forming on the tank's exterior and
protects its aluminum skin from aerodynamic heat during flight.

The Space Shuttle Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center manages the tank project. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.,
New Orleans, is the primary contractor.

Photos of the external tank's departure are available online.
Additional photos will be added to the page as they are available at:

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/index.cfm

For information about NASA's Space Shuttle Program on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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