NASA's
Improved Shuttle External Tank Arrives at Kennedy
Space Center
The huge, orange External
Tank (ET) that will help launch Space Shuttle
Discovery arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.,
on January 5.
The
tank, designated ET-120, was loaded onto a covered
barge Dec. 31 at the Michoud processing facility
in New Orleans to begin its trip to Kennedy.
Shipping the tank was an important milestone,
particularly for the NASA team that spent 23
months working on modifications to make it safer.
"Our
team of contractors and civil servants has worked
hard developing, testing and implementing
improvements that will reduce the risk to the
orbiter during liftoff and ascent," said
Sandy Coleman, manager of the External Tank
Project, an element of the Space Shuttle
Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. "This will be the
safest, most reliable tank NASA has ever
produced."
A
seven-member Discovery crew will fly the Return to
Flight mission, designated STS-114, to the
International Space Station. The major mission
objectives are testing and evaluating new
procedures for flight safety. Returning the
Shuttle to flight is the first step in the Vision
for Space Exploration, which calls for a stepping
stone strategy of human and robotic missions to
achieve new exploration goals. The Shuttle will be
used to complete assembly of the International
Space Station. The Station is a vital research
platform for human endurance in space and a test
bed for technologies and techniques that will
enable longer journeys to the moon, Mars and
beyond.
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