The Last Shuttle External Tank

On Thursday July 8 2010 the last Space Shuttle External Tank scheduled for a mission (STS-134) will start its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans (managed under NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center).  The tank, which took Michoud workers nearly three years to build, will sail on the barge Pegasus through the Gulf nearly 900 miles before reaching its destination – the docks at Cape Canaveral, FL.

Shuttle Eternal Tank (image credit: NASA/KSC)

That final tank will be rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where the Saturn and Ares rocket were also processed. It will be attached to the Shuttle Endeavour, and the two solids will be mated. The stacked vehicle will be rolled out to Space Launch Complex 39A – the only active Shuttle launch pad. Then on February 26 2011, it will make the Shuttle Program’s final ascent to the heavens, supplying the cryogenic liquid hydrogen and oxygen that the Shuttle main engines require. At the end of its mission, explosive bolts will separate that final tank from Endeavour, the tank will re-enter, and it will find a final resting place at the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean. And the Shuttle program will be over.

Or will it?

Interestingly, there is another External Tank in processing: designated “ET-122.” That tank was damaged when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf. The workers at Michoud are making that tank flight-ready, and will ship that tank off to the Cape this September to serve as a “rescue mission” tank [for Atlantis] during Endeavour’s final flight. The fact that this flight-ready tank would be available for an additional Shuttle mission has some people lobbying for an extra mission – which would make Atlantis the final Space Shuttle to fly (speculation is that such a mission could be an ISS resupply sometime in June 2011, and would not require a “rescue mission” backup Shuttle since in the event that Atlantis was not able to return the crew, they could stay at the ISS and return in Soyuz capsules).

Ultimately, Even in the event that an additional Shuttle mission was funded, it would only delay the inevitable – the Space Shuttle Program will come to an end. The industrial base will be dissolved. And the United States will – for quite some time – will not have the capability to put humans into space.

For the people who are joining us in developing the Space Shuttle Commemorative Coin, the slip of the final mission to February 2011 (or optimistically, June 2011), buys us some time. Our focus over the next several months will be to increase the number of people involved in the project. If you’re interested in honoring the Space Shuttle Program and would like to become involved (or just follow the progress), please go to the links below.

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U.S. Space Shuttle Program Commemorative Coin
NASA’s Space Shuttle program will be coming to an end with the launch of the Shuttle Endeavour, currently scheduled for February 26, 2011. Our group is designing and developing The Space Shuttle Commemorative Coin. Follow and participate at www.SpaceShuttleCoin.com, and join the collaboration at our FaceBook site.

Ares I-X Rocket Medallion
Our most recent commemorative: Ares I-X “First Launch” medallion is available at www.AresRocketCoin.com. To honor Ares’ Apollo roots, each medallion contains metal flown to the surface of the moon on Apollo 11.

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