LOS ANGELES – The Latest on a space shuttle fuel tank heading to a Los Angeles museum (all times local):
9:20 a.m.
A gigantic space shuttle fuel tank is creeping through streets near Los Angeles on its way to a science museum.
The 33-ton, 154-foot-long external propellant tank began moving at 12:01 a.m. Saturday from coastal Marina del Rey to the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The orange-brown, sausage-shaped tank is being trucked at 5 mph. By early morning, it was moving through suburban Inglewood, where some light poles were unbolted and turned so their arms wouldn't hit the towering tank. Freeway drivers also got a shock as it rolled across an overpass.
The tank, known as ET-94, is the last surviving external propellant tank. It was never used on a shuttle but it will join the retired shuttle Endeavour on display at the museum.
___
12:15 a.m.
A massive space shuttle external propellant tank is squeezing through the streets of Los Angeles to join a display of the retired orbiter Endeavour at the California Science Center.
The big move began at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and is expected to take 13 to 18 hours to squeeze down 16½ miles of streets, avenues and boulevards from Marina del Rey on the coast to the center in Exposition Park near downtown.
The tank's trek was expected to be not quite as difficult as when the 122-foot-long Endeavour, with a wingspan of 78 feet, was similarly hauled 12 miles to the center from Los Angeles International Airport. Although longer — 154 feet — the 65,000-pound external tank is much narrower than the shuttle with a diameter of 27.5 feet.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
