http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Space-fans-cheer-shuttle-tank-on-path-to-museum-7924027.php
Space fans cheer shuttle tank on path to museum in Los Angeles
Updated 8:15 pm, Saturday, May 21, 2016
LOS ANGELES — A colossal space shuttle fuel tank completed its 19-hour trek through the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday to join the retired orbiter Endeavour on display at the California Science Center.
The 33-ton, 154-foot-long external propellant tank began moving a few minutes after midnight from coastal Marina del Rey, where it arrived by barge Wednesday. It reached the museum at Exposition Park just after 7 p.m. following a carefully-coordinated journey down 16 miles of streets.
The orange-brown, sausage-shaped tank — the last of its kind — traveled by truck at about 5 mph. It was escorted by police, a fire truck, and several city officials and astronauts while crews trimmed a few trees and unbolted stoplight poles so they wouldn’t hit the towering tank.
Freeway drivers got a shock as the tank rolled by on a bridge over Interstate 405, an artery west of downtown that was busy even on Saturday morning.
Along the route, people lined the sidewalks with their cell phones, trying to capture the perfect shot — and a selfie.
“When you look at the people who are out here, it’s little kids, it’s older folks, it’s white folks, it’s black folks, it’s Latino folks,” said Shelly Arsneault, 49, of Whittier. “It’s everybody. It’s cool. It’s LA.”
Children, a few wearing homemade space helmets, were enthralled. Cindy Hernandez, 11, of Inglewood said the tank was “amazing.”
“These kids are going to remember today their whole lives. And they’re going to think about it when they choose their career paths. They’re going to study harder in school. And it’s going to make us happy,” astronaut Mike Fincke, who flew on the Endeavour’s final flight in 2011, told the Los Angeles Times.
“It really makes me feel that a lot of people appreciate what our space program is doing,” said Sandy Magnus, another astronaut. “Days like this I think are days that bring us all together.”
The tank will be displayed upright along with the shuttle and two solid-rocket boosters, as if ready for takeoff.
The trek drew smaller crowds than the journey of the 122-foot-long Endeavour. With a wingspan of 78 feet, the orbiter was similarly hauled 12 miles to the center from Los Angeles International Airport. Extensive preparations for Endeavour’s trek included removing trees, street posts and other obstacles, but that journey still took about 17 hours longer than planned.
Although longer, the external tank is much narrower than the shuttle, with a diameter of 27.5 feet.
The tank was shipped to California by barge through the Panama Canal from a NASA facility in Louisiana.
