Space Shuttle Fuel Tank Arrives In Marina Del Rey
MARINA DEL REY (CBSLA.com) — A barge carrying a 66,000-pound external fuel tank designed for one-time use in launching a space shuttle arrived in Marina del Rey Wednesday.
At 6:00 a.m., NASA's ET-94 cleared the breakwater and traveled through the marina.
The tank was then brought onto land and prepared for a slow trek to its new home at the California Science Center. The tank will ultimately be placed in an upright display next to the retired space shuttle Endeavour.
ET-94 began its journey to Los Angeles on April 10 from NASA's Michoud assembly facility in Louisiana.
The massive orange tank was tugged into the Gulf of Mexico and later traveled through the Panama Canal.
Former LA District Attorney and avid photographer Gil Garcetti traveled with the fuel tank from New Orleans to catalog the journey.
"This is our history," he said. "We need to be proud of it. We should be proud of it."
Garcetti was hoping the fuel tank would inspire future generations to explore, and possibly travel to space.
For some of the onlookers at Marina Del Rey, it appeared to do just that.
"I think it really does inspire me to go to outer space," one onlooker, Jacob Jordan, said.
The tank will begin a 13- to 18-hour trek through Los Angeles before dawn Saturday.
The caravan will travel at about 5 mph down Lincoln and Culver boulevards, to Westchester Parkway, then through Inglewood on Arbor Vitae Street to La Brea Avenue, past the Forum, and north on Vermont Avenue to the museum.
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
