Massive fuel tank is dramatically lifted into Shuttle Endeavour museum display

The assembly of an upright, launch-ready display of the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center was another step closer to completion today, as crews lifted a massive external fuel tank into vertical position, but it still needs to be lifted again and shifted into its permanent location.

Crews at the Science Center had planned to begin the lifting of the 65,000-pound tank, known as ET-94, late Thursday night, but the operation was delayed by winds. Overnight and during the early morning hours, crews were able to attach the tank to a large construction crane, which lifted ET-94 vertically and over a wall of the under-construction Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which will house the one-of-a-kind shuttle display.

As of Friday morning, the tank was sitting upright near the future display, but it will still need to be lifted one more time and dropped into its exact position — nestled between two 149-foot-tall rocket boosters that have been in place vertically since early December. Officials were hoping to accomplish that move Friday morning, but with winds again becoming a factor, the operation was put on pause, in hopes of resuming the move late Friday night.

On Wednesday a “self-propelled modular transporter” was used to slowly move the large orange tank approximately 1,000 feet through Exposition Park and into position for its crane ride. It took roughly two hours to move the massive tank, which is 154 feet long and 27.5 feet in diameter.

ET-94 is the last remaining flight-qualified external tank in existence.

The twin rocket boosters that were installed upright in December are each 149 feet tall, including the aft skirts — or base — of the boosters, along with the 116-foot-long rocket motors and the “forward assembly,” or cone-shaped tops.

The addition of ET-94 to the vertical display will leave the star attraction — the shuttle Endeavour itself — as the only component left to move.

It was unclear exactly when the shuttle will be moved from its existing horizontal display and lifted upright. Science Center officials said only that the move will occur in the “coming weeks.”

The Endeavour had been on display horizontally at the Science Center for more than a decade. Public access to the shuttle, however, ended on Dec. 31 so preparations could begin for its eventual move to the new exhibit, which will be the only launch-ready display of a former NASA space shuttle in the world.

Science Center officials have dubbed the months-long effort to create the vertical shuttle display as the “Go For Stack” process.

The shuttle launch display will be the centerpiece of the 200,000-square-foot Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which will nearly double the Science Center’s educational exhibition space. The building will include three multi-level galleries, themed for air, space and shuttle. The new facility will also house an events and exhibit center that will house large-scale rotating exhibitions.

An opening date for the $400 million center has not yet been determined.

Source: Orange County Register