How does the External Tank work? The External Tank is the backbone of the Space Shuttle during flight. What happens is, all of the loads from the Solid Rocket Boosters and the orbiter pass through it as they're going up the hill in the initial part of the flight. Overall, the External Tank is 27-1_2 feet in diameter, but it's 154 feet long, and inside of it are two tanks. The top third is the liquid oxygen tank and the bottom two thirds is the liquid hydrogen tank. At T-0, we begin flowing through huge, 17-inch disc connects located on the bottom of the orbiter, all of the liquid hydrogen and oxygen that those big, sucking main engines will need. And they provide all the power we need, and all the liquid hydrogen and oxygen are coming in through those big feed lines. About 8-1_2 minutes after T-0, it's essentially empty, and the External Tank is jettisoned. It will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up, usually somewhere over the Indian Ocean or the South Pacific. And that is how the External Tank works.
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ksc_022805_htw_et
Date Created
March 3, 2005
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KSC
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video
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NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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