A Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) in the orbiter. The ET was jettisoned just over 10 seconds after MECO (Main Engine Cut Off), where the SSMEs were shut down, and re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. Unlike the Solid Rocket Boosters, external tanks were not re-used. They broke up before impact in the Indian Ocean (or Pacific Ocean in the case of direct-insertion launch trajectories), away from known shipping lanes. The tanks were not recovered.
Although the external tanks were always discarded, it could have been possible to re-use them in orbit. Plans for re-use ranged from incorporation into a space station as extra living or research space, as rocket fuel tanks for interplanetary missions (e.g. Mars), to raw materials for orbiting factories.
Another concept was to use the ET as a cargo carrier for bulky payloads. One proposal was for the primary mirror of 7 meter aperture telescope to be carried with the tank. Another concept was the Aft Cargo Carrier (ACC).
Read more about Space Shuttle External Tank: Overview, Versions, Contractor, Components, Variants, Future Use
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