What happened to the external fuel tank on the Space Shuttle?

During launch, tank and boosters are jettisoned and fall back to Earth after a shuttle’s initial push to the sky. Unlike the boosters, however, the external tank is not collected and reused. Instead, the tanks are discarded to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

What happens to the rest of the Space Shuttle?

For a successful return to Earth and landing, dozens of things have to go just right. Once the orbiter is tail first, the crew fires the OMS engines to slow the orbiter down and fall back to Earth; it will take about 25 minutes before the shuttle reaches the upper atmosphere. …

What part of a Space Shuttle does not get reused?

The 15-story, rust-colored external tank was the only shuttle component that was not reused. It fed more than 500,000 gallons of fuel — liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen — to the shuttle’s main engines during launch. The tank was also the “backbone” of the space shuttle structure.

What was used to prevent the Space Shuttle burning up on re entry?

Space Shuttle thermal protection system
The Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS) is the barrier that protected the Space Shuttle Orbiter during the searing 1,650 °C (3,000 °F) heat of atmospheric reentry. A secondary goal was to protect from the heat and cold of space while in orbit.

Where does the external tank fall?

The now nearly empty tank separates and falls in a preplanned trajectory with the majority of it disintegrating in the atmosphere and the rest falling into the ocean.

Why are space shuttles white?

The first two, used for STS-1 and STS-2, were painted white to protect the tanks from ultraviolet light during the extended time that the shuttle spends on the launch pad prior to launch.

What happens to the fuel in the external tank of Space Shuttle?

EXTERNAL TANK The external tankcontains the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer and supplies them under pressure to the three space shuttle main enginesin the orbiterduring lift-off and ascent. When the SSMEs are shut down, the ETis jettisoned, enters the Earth’s atmosphere, breaks up, and impacts in a remote ocean area.

What was the only expendable element in the Space Shuttle?

The external tank was the only major expendable shuttle element. The external tank weighed 1.6 million pounds at space shuttle liftoff, equal to the weight of 32,000 elementary school children.

What happened to the first two space shuttles that broke up?

They broke up before impact in the Indian Ocean (or Pacific Ocean in the case of direct-insertion launch trajectories), away from shipping lanes and were not recovered. The external tank was painted white for the first two Space Shuttle launches. From STS-3 on, it was left unpainted.

What happened to the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003?

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during atmospheric entry, killing all seven crew members. The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program, after Challenger, which broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff and killed the seven-member crew in 1986.