The
external tank that will fuel NASA's next space shuttle during launch arrived at
the agency's Florida spaceport late Wednesday after a five-day trip along the Gulf Coast.
NASA's
Pegasus barge delivered the Lockheed Martin-built External
Tank-119 (ET-119) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, where it
will be used to fuel the Discovery shuttle's launch during the upcoming STS-121
spaceflight later this year.
The arrival
of the 15-story, orange tank, which holds the
liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant that fuel a shuttle's main engines
during liftoff, brings all of the necessary components for Discovery's STS-121
mission to KSC.
Discovery
itself sits in its Orbiter Processing Facility, where engineers are working to
prepare it for flight. The shuttle's twin solid rocket boosters, which stand to
either side of the external tank during launch, are being assembled in the
massive, 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where ET-119 now sits.
NASA hopes
to launch ET-119 and the STS-121 mission, commanded by veteran astronaut Steven
Lindsey, as early as May 10, though an official flight date has yet to be
set. The mission, NASA's second test flight following the 2003 Columbia disaster, will
test orbiter inspection methods, heat shield repair techniques, and deliver
vital supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).
The mission
is also expected to deliver a third space station crewmember - the European
Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas
Reiter - to return the ISS to a three-person crew.
ET-119's
arrival at KSC is the culmination of months of hard work, especially for
Lockheed Martin employees at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans,
Louisiana, who prepared the shuttle fuel tank while simultaneously recovering
from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast
in September 2005, causing widespread flooding and damage that left many
homeless.
"The
workforce there is really proud of what they've done," NASA shuttle program
manager Wayne Hale said of the Michoud workers Tuesday during a press
conference. "My hat is off to them."
Engineers
have stripped
a protective insulation-covered ramp from ET-119 to prevent the type of foam
shedding seen during NASA's first post-Columbia flight, the STS-114 mission also aboard Discovery,
last July. A similar foam shedding event also damaged the Columbia orbited
during its 2003 launch, breaching its heat shield and dooming its
seven-astronaut crew during reentry.
NASA hopes
that external tank wind tunnel tests will prove that pressure and fuel lines
once covered by the removed ramp can withstand the stresses of launch.
"The proof
is in the wind tunnel tests," Hale said Tuesday. "If we find a surprise in the
wind tunnel that's good, because you want to find it out in the wind tunnel and
not on the flight vehicle.
"The thing
that's going to pace getting Discovery off the ground is not the work we're
doing at the Kennedy Space Center," Hale added. "It is the engineering analysis
and tests that go toward proving what we have assembled is safe to fly."
Hale and
other shuttle program officials will meet Thursday to discuss NASA's orbiter
flight progress.
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