Īnother concept was to use the ET as a cargo carrier for bulky payloads. Mars), to raw materials for orbiting factories. Plans for re-use ranged from incorporation into a space station as extra living or research space, as rocket fuel tanks for interplanetary missions (e.g. Electrical signals and controls between the orbiter and the two solid rocket boosters were also routed through those umbilicals.Īlthough the external tanks were always discarded, it may have been possible to re-use them in orbit. In the aft attachment area, there were also umbilicals that carried fluids, gases, electrical signals and electrical power between the tank and the orbiter. The tank was connected to each SRB at one forward attachment point (using a crossbeam through the intertank) and one aft bracket, and it was connected to the orbiter at one forward attachment bipod and two aft bipods. The ET was the "backbone" of the shuttle during launch, providing structural support for attachment with the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and orbiter. the aft liquid hydrogen (LH 2) tank this was the largest part, but it was relatively light, due to liquid hydrogen's very low density.an unpressurized intertank that contains most of the electrical components.The ET was the largest element of the Space Shuttle, and when loaded, it was also the heaviest. They broke up before impact in the Indian Ocean (or Pacific Ocean in the case of direct-insertion launch trajectories), away from shipping lanes and were not recovered. Unlike the Solid Rocket Boosters, external tanks were not re-used. The ET was jettisoned just over 10 seconds after main engine cut-off (MECO) and it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three RS-25 main engines in the orbiter. The Space Shuttle external tank ( ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. The scorch mark near the front end of the tank is from the SRB separation motors. The ET from STS-115 after separation from the orbiter. NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, contractor: Martin Marietta, later Lockheed Martin 124 is lowered into high bay 1 of the Vehicle Assembly Building prior to attachment of the solid rocket boosters for mission STS-117.
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