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Photo, Print, Drawing Space Transportation System, External Tank, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX

[ Drawings from Survey HAER TX-116-J  ]

More Resources

[ Data Pages from Survey HAER TX-116-J  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Space Transportation System, External Tank, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX

Names

  • Historic American Engineering Record, creator
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Owner
  • Behrens, Thomas M, photographer
  • Wachtel, John, delineator
  • Klimek, Joseph, delineator
  • Smart GeoMetrics, contractor
  • Archaeological Consultants, Inc., contractor
  • Johnson Space Center, Space Shuttle Program Transition and Retirement Office, sponsor

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1968

Headings

  • -  national space program
  • -  space exploration
  • -  space flight
  • -  man in space
  • -  Shuttle Program
  • -  fuel tanks
  • -  liquid propellant
  • -  Texas--Harris County--Houston

Latitude / Longitude

  • 29.552348,-95.093708

Notes

  • -  Significance: The hydrogen tank, which was the bigger of the two tanks could hold a maximum of about 230,000 pounds of hydrogen or about 390,000 gallons. The smaller oxygen tank, located at the top of the External Tank (ET), could hold about 1,375,000 pounds or 145,000 gallons. During powered flight the ET provided approximately 47,000 gallons per minute of oxygen to all three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) with a 6-to-1 mixture ratio, by weight, of liquid oxygen to liquid hydrogen. In addition to containing and delivering cryogenic propellants to the SSME the ET also served as the structural support for the attachment of the Orbiter and Solid Rocket Boosters. While the STS stack assembly is sitting on the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) the ET transfers the weight of the Orbiter and itself to the Solid Rocker Boosters (SRBs) which are attached to the MLP. At launch and ascent the ET absorbs the thrust loads produced by the SSMEs and the SRBs. Despite its size and structural requirements the aluminum alloy skin of the ET is only one eight of an inch thick in most areas. As with all of the other components of the STS stack assembly, the ET has undergone improvements during the STS operational lifespan. Most notably, was two weight-saving redesigns that made the ETs lighter and stronger. The original version of the ET weighed 76,000 pounds empty. The first redesign, flown on STS-6 was the Lightweight ET which dropped 10,000 pounds from the original ETs. The second redesign, flown on STS-91, was the Super Lightweight ET that dropped an additional 7,500 pounds from the Lightweight tank resulting in a weight of 58,500 pounds. ...
  • -  Survey number: HAER TX-116-J

Medium

  • Measured Drawing(s): 3

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HAER TX-116-J

Source Collection

  • Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

Repository

  • Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Control Number

  • tx1116

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HAER TX-116-J
  • Access Advisory: ---

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, Owner National Aeronautics And Space Administration, John Wachtel, Joseph Klimek, Contractor Smart Geometrics, Inc Archaeological Consultants, and Space Shuttle Program Transition And Retirement Office Johnson Space Center, Behrens, Thomas M, photographer. Space Transportation System, External Tank, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX. Houston Harris County Texas, 1968. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/tx1116/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, C., National Aeronautics And Space Administration, O., Wachtel, J., Klimek, J., Smart Geometrics, C., Archaeological Consultants, I. & Johnson Space Center, S. S. P. T. A. R. O., Behrens, T. M., photographer. (1968) Space Transportation System, External Tank, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX. Houston Harris County Texas, 1968. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/tx1116/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, et al., photographer by Behrens, Thomas M. Space Transportation System, External Tank, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/tx1116/>.