'ET Comes Home' for NASA fuel tank's street ride through LA

Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A giant NASA fuel tank crossed the half-way mark in its final journey on Saturday, with crowds cheering on its parade along Los Angeles streets to a science center where it will go on display with the space shuttle Endeavour. The orange tank, weighing 65,000 pounds (29,500 kg) and measuring 154 feet (47 meters) in length, is the only one of its kind in existence. It was never used in a shuttle launch, which would have blown it to pieces. The California Science Center has called the parade of the fuel tank, which stands about three stories tall when towed on its side by a truck, "ET Comes Home," in a play on the "external tank" name and the 1982 movie "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." The transport is a sequel of sorts to the 2012 mission to tow Endeavour from the Los Angeles airport to the science center, a feat witnessed by 1.5 million. Crowds were smaller this time, but rows of spectators and children in homemade astronaut helmets lined the curbs along the 16-mile (26 km) journey to see the tank pass and pose for selfie pictures with it. A dozen U.S. astronauts, including Garrett Reisman and Sandra Magnus, made appearances along the route. "It's been a very smooth ride," said Science Center spokeswoman Shell Amega. The tank, while longer than the Statue of Liberty from torch to the feet, is neither as wide nor tall as the space shuttle, allowing it to squeeze more easily through the streets of the second largest U.S. city. At various points, light poles were swung around to allow the fuel tank to pass. ET-94 is expected to arrive at the center Saturday evening, capping a trip that started in New Orleans aboard a barge that passed through the Panama Canal before docking at Marina del Rey on Wednesday. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) donated the fuel tank, which was designed to carry propellants to thrust a space shuttle into orbit and then detach before disintegrating as it fell to the ocean. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Lucy Nicholson; Editing by Mary Milliken)