07/08/2010
Space Shuttle Program's Final Flight External Tank, ET-138, Rolls Out
in Ceremony at Michoud
Ceremony is held at building that holds NCAM administrative offices; NCAM staff attend.

	PRE-CEREMONY: Employees and visitors surround the ceremony area, Building 420 (contains NCAM offices), tent for guest speakers and VIP guests, and ET-138.
	INTERVIEWS: Pre-Ceremony, Angela Hunt, of Lockheed Martin, is interviewed by CNN.
	FAMILY & SPECIAL GUESTS: Because of the special nature of the event, NASA allowed employees to invite family members onto the facility. Above, young Mr. Danté Hicks poses with his mother Sonovia, of Coastal International Security.
	MOTTO: For the ceremony recognizing the last tank, Lockheed Martin employees wore T-shirts with the words, "Finish Strong," a phrase also used by the Superbowl Champion New Orleans Saints during their 2009 winning season. Above, employees listen to special guest speakers.
	ROLLOUT: ET-138 Rolls away from building 420, on its way to the Michoud dock.
	MUSIC: The Storyville Stompers, a traditional New Orleans jazz band, follows behind ET-138 as it rolls out and the band leads the second line (a traditional New Orleans walking/dancing parade highlighted with brightly colored parasols and waving handkerchiefs.)
	SECOND LINE: Cora Arcement-Buffone, of Lockheed Martin, raises her red parasol in the second line. Cora said, "It [the parasol] is decorated with Shuttle Mission patches I had collected over my 30 years with Lockheed Martin. I have watched many rollouts over the years. Being able to walk along with this tank one last time was simply incredible."
	FINALE: As ET138 rolls away from the crowd towards the Michoud dock and its long seaward journey to Florida, the Storyville Stompers conclude the event with the old, traditional gospel song, "I'll Fly Away."

Story credit: www.NASA.gov
Photo credits: Lisa Johnson, NCAM

Commemorating 37 years of successful tank deliveries, NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company held a ceremony on Thursday, July 8, at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to rollout the final external tank for the last space shuttle flight.

The last external tank scheduled to fly on a shuttle mission was completed on June 25 by Lockheed Martin workers at Michoud. The tank, designated ET-138, will traveled on a wheeled transporter one mile to the Michoud barge dock. It was accompanied by the Storyville Stompers, a traditional area brass band, and hundreds of handkerchief-waving employees in typical New Orleans fashion and spirit during the ceremony. ET-138 will travel on a 900-mile sea journey to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will support shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 launch.

The external tank, the "gas tank" for the orbiter, holds the propellants used by the space shuttle main engines. It also is the "backbone" of the shuttle during launch, providing structural support for attachment with the solid rocket boosters and orbiter. It is the only component of the space shuttle that is not reused. Approximately 8.5 minutes into the flight, with its propellant used, the tank is jettisoned into the ocean.

Taller than a 15-story building and more than 27 feet in diameter, the external tank absorbs the 7.8 million pounds of thrust of the three space shuttle main engines and solid rocket boosters during a space shuttle launch. It feeds 145,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and 390,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen to the main engines.

The three main components of the external tank include the liquid oxygen tank, liquid hydrogen tank and the collar-like intertank, which connects the two propellant tanks. The intertank houses instrumentation and processing equipment and provides the attachment structure for the solid rocket boosters.

When ET-138 arrives at Kennedy, processing will begin to mate it with shuttle Endeavour and solid rocket boosters for the STS-134 mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than mid-November. The mission will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 3 and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. It will be the 36th shuttle mission to the space station and the 134th and final scheduled shuttle flight.

Michoud Space Systems workers, of Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colo., have delivered 135 flight tanks to NASA during the 25 years of flying the space shuttle.

Work will be completed on one additional external tank, ET-122, which was at Michoud during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and damaged by falling debris. It is being restored to flight configuration and is scheduled for delivery to Kennedy in late September to serve as the “Launch on Need” tank, if needed, for STS-134.

VIEW 3-1/2 MINUTE VIDEO, WITH AUDIO, BELOW:
"ET-138 Gets a New Orleans Style Send-Off"