Apr 14 2005
From The Space Library
NASA's Space Shuttle Program reached another milestone: filling a 154-foot-high (47-meterhigh) external tank with fuel and oxygen. The test, intended to assure engineers that all changes to the tank operated as expected, marked the first time since Columbia's accident that NASA had prepared an external tank for flight. The foam was necessary to keep the liquid fuel cool and to reduce ice build-up on the tank, but NASA and Lockheed Martin had redesigned the tank to reduce the amount of foam debris during launch. Changes to the tank design included removing the foam from the bipod ramp and replacing the foam with heaters. The designers had also added a “drip-lip” to reduce ice accumulation on the joints that permit the adjustment of the tank's fuel line. In a dress rehearsal for Discovery's upcoming launch, engineers pumped more than 500,000 gallons of fuel into the tank, monitoring the tank and the Shuttle's systems down to the T-minus 31-second mark in a mock countdown. N. Wayne Hale Jr., Deputy Manager of the Space Shuttle Program and Chair of NASA's Mission Management Team, remarked on the outstanding performances of the newly modified external tank, the Shuttle, and the launchpad. (Philip Chien, “NASA Tests Tank on Space Shuttle,” Washington Times, 15 April 2005; William Harwood, “NASA Managers Elated with Shuttle Fueling Test,” Spaceflight Now, 15 April 2005; Kelly Young, “Shuttle's External Fuel Tank Tested Successfully,” New Scientist, 15 April 2005,http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7270-shuttles-external-fuel-tank-tested-successfully.html (accessed 25 November 2009); Physorg. com, “NASA Puts Space Shuttle External Tank to the Test,” 15 April 2005, http://www.physorg.com/news3738.html (accessed 25 November 2009).)
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