Sep 11 1996
From The Space Library
NASA announced that engineers from NASA and Lockheed Martin had completed successful tests on a prototype, lightweight, external fuel tank for the Shuttle. The tests measured the tank's strength and reliability under conditions exceeding recommended flight certification. NASA's External Tank Project Manager Parker V. Counts reported that the tests had demonstrated that the unique composition of the very lightweight tanks did not reduce their strength. NASA had awarded Lockheed Martin the contract to produce the lighter tanks, to enable the Shuttle to carry cargo to the high inclination orbit where the International Space Station (ISS) would reside. To build the tanks, NASA had used aluminum lithium, a material both lighter and stronger than the metal alloy used in previous tank construction. NASA had designed the tanks to weigh 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilograms) less than the models used on earlier Shuttles.
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