STS-132 External Fuel Tank - Image Credit: NASA
In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the external fuel tank for Space Shuttle Atlantis’ final flight was attached to the shuttle’s twin solid rocket boosters.
The external tank arrived at Kennedy from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility on March 1 aboard the Pegasus barge.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to make the journey from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the VAB on April 13, 2010. Once inside the VAB, Atlantis will be hoisted into vertical position and engineers will mate it the SRB-ET stack.
Once fully assembled, the entire shuttle stack will undertake a six hour journey to Launch Pad 39A around April 20th.
The six-member STS-132 crew will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini-Research Module, or MRM-1, to the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for May 14.
The STS-132 External Fuel Tank arrives at the VAB. - Image Credit: NASA
The STS-132 External Fuel Tank is hoisted into the vertical position. - Image Credit: NASA
STS-132 External Fuel Tank - Image Credit: NASA
The STS-132 External Fuel Tank is mated to the SRB stack. - Image Credit: NASA
