FYI: Shuttle Facts

The main external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle is 154 feet long and 28 feet in diameter. The tank is discharged when empty and disintegrates in the atmosphere when falling back to Earth.

For the first few shuttle missions back in 1983, the tank was covered in white Latex paint to match the rest of the ship. Later missions have been launched with an unpainted tank. This removes more than 600 pounds from the total liftoff weight.

Any weight removed from the craft itself is weight that can be added to cargo. If the shuttle itself weighs 500 fewer pounds, the crew can take 500 extra pounds of supplies to the International Space Station.

On the sixth mission, a new tank design was employed which removed an additional 11,000 pounds from the total weight. Another redesign in 1998 removed yet another 7,000 pounds.

The Space Shuttle orbits the earth at 25 times the speed of sound.