NIKON 1 J1
ƒ/3.5
10 mm
1/60
3200

This is fuel cell. My heart quickened when I discovered this, as I have the pioneering Apollo version in my office.

This one is near the side entry hatch to the payload bay.

3 responses to “The guts of a Space Shuttle”

  1. Substructure from the payload bay
    DSC_0088

    exposed to remove the tanks
    DSC_0090

    On the day of our visit, the fluids were drained from the orbiter, the point of no return for its decommissioning.

  2. I keep reading that the "draining of the fluids" is the point of no return, but nobody really says why that is the case. I can imagine that it’s going to involve the removal of a lot of plumbing that handled toxic materials. Are the hydraulic systems going too? Hypergolics? Life support? Fuel cells? Do you think they’re going to be able to re-use any of this awesome hardware?

    I found this NASA document listing some of the nasty propellents and coolants used by the Orbiter, but it doesn’t really say much.

  3. I’m guessing that the seals are all suspect when the fluids are gone, and many are buried throughout the substructure. The hypergolics and 14 lethal substances are all long gone.

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeany7] — functionally similar, but Gemini/Apollo blazed the trail.

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