Sunday, March 25, 2012

Three of Endeavour's Main Propulsion System (MPS) tanks are ready to be placed in storage for future use on NASA's Space Launch System, on March 21, 2012.
NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

Endeavour: Retirement Update #2... Last Wednesday, technicians inside Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida began removing Main Propulsion System tanks from the mid-body of Endeavour. After the tanks were lifted via crane from the payload bay of the shuttle, they will be secured and placed in storage for future use on NASA's next heavy-lift vehicle, the Space Launch System. Endeavour herself, meanwhile, continues to undergo transition and retirement processing inside OPF-2. By the end of next month, she and Atlantis will be the only orbiters left at KSC...as Discovery is less than a month away from being transported to her final home at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Two of Endeavour's MPS tanks are ready to be removed from the orbiter and placed in temporary storage, on March 21, 2012.
NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

Technicians inside Orbiter Processing Facility-2 secure one of Endeavour's MPS tanks prior to being removed from the shuttle, on March 21, 2012.
NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

An MPS tank, which will be placed in temporary storage, is slowly lifted out of Endeavour's payload bay on March 21, 2012.
NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis
Posted by Richard Par at 9:01 AM
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)