Interesting Shuttle Pathfinder tidbits

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Hotdog
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Interesting Shuttle Pathfinder tidbits

Post by Hotdog »

Found this while researching scale model building information...

from http://www.spaceinminiature.com/ref/sts/pathfinder.html
Pathfinder Shuttle History

JMChladek wrote:

<The tank I saw at Marshall was in a disassembled state, detailing the separate
LOX and LHX tanks, plus the intertank. It was definitely white, but it looked
like a glossy white that wasn't rough, so indeed it may just have had the cork
applied and no spray insulation. I don't recall the front of the tank having a
big dent in it, but I wasn't looking for dents either.
>

What timeframe was it that you saw that white ET disassembled? Note that the tank was fully assembled by late March 1978, used for vibration testing for the rest of 1978, and was sent to KSC for full-stack build-up pad interface testing by May 1979. Starting in the early 80's, a static display of an ET and SRB was set up in building 4708 at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The ET was split at the intertank, and the walkway went between the LH2 and LOX tanks. There was a stairway and platform so visitors could look through a small porthole (or was it just the LOX drain pipe fitting? Don't remember...) into the LOX tank. My recollection is that the ET was painted white, inside (at least the external surfaces that would normally be inside the interstage) and outside. The SRBs were just the nose cone and aft end, again mounted horizontally.

This set-up was for a long time on the bus tour, and I used to wander through after eating lunch at the cafeteria in that building. The display did a great job of impressing people with the size of the hardware. It was my understanding (without any supporting evidence, just hearsay) that this ET became the one in the stack at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center (excuse me, the "_US_ Space and Rocket Center") - I did have several conversations with engineers at MSFC talking about the problems of putting the Pathfinder orbiter on the back of the ET at the 30 deg (or so) angle of the display - they said that an entire structure had to be built inside the tank to keep the ET from collapsing under the weight of the orbiter, since the loading condition is not one that the tank was ever designed for.

At any rate, sometime around 1990 the ET disappeared, and I think that the building was recycled to host an ISS mock-up and subsystem test facility. I don't know if there's still a tour stop there - it was right up a short hill from the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, which has since been shut down and taken off the tour. It's been a couple of years since I did any research at MSFC, and since the NBS is dry, it's doubtful I'll be back any time in the near future...

- Dave

Dr. David L. Akin

[email protected]

[space-modelers] Re: OT: Pathfinder history, 11/2/99



The ET displayed with Pathfinder is the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA-ET) that was used at Stennis for initial test firings of the SSME's mounted on the MPTA-098 aft fuselage assembly (which is now part of the Shuttle-C mockup) in 1979. As others have mentioned the SRBs displayed in the stack are filament wound articles (sections of the SRBs are the real deal with other sections comprised of mockups) developed for launches from VAFB.

Pathfinder was used for post-landing activities rehearsals only at KSC (not Edwards as my post stated). For those interested, Pathfinder was converted for display at Tokyo's "Great Space Shuttle Exposition" by the Teledyne-Brown Engineering company. Having been displayed there for a year it was returned to Marshall and finally sent to Huntsville.

Finally the Paris Air Show was in 1983 not 1984.

Phew! Well, back to my box! Sorry for the incorrect information...

Justin Wigg

[space-modelers] Re: OT: Pathfinder history, 11/1/99

Justin Wigg wrote:

<<The ET displayed with Pathfinder is the Main Propulsion Test Article
(MPTA-ET) that was used at Stennis for initial test firings of the SSME's
mounted on the MPTA-098 aft fuselage assembly (which is now part of the
Shuttle-C mockup) in 1979.
>>

OK, so now we know for sure what the ET used for Pathfinder now is and that yes there were definitely two "static" test ET's.

Which leaves the question as to what the heck happened to the white-painted ET used at Marshall for vibration testing (1978) and later stacked at KSC for practice and pad interface tests (1979). Does it still exist somewhere, maybe even disassembled in some building at Marshall? Surely it would not have been scrapped.....

- George Gassaway

[space-modelers] Re: OT: Pathfinder history, 11/1/99
4-time Space Camp/Academy alumni
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