An enormous external fuel tank called ET-94 will be now transported from New Orleans to Los Angeles to permanently reside at the California Science Center. The tank weighs 32½ ton and was originally made for being used during a space shuttle program.

However, the tank never went ahead with its mission and is now all set to take this classic road journey. The diameter of the external propellant tank is 27.6 feet and the length is 154 feet, which is actually longer than the shuttle Endeavour, which is located at the museum.

It is last-of-its-kind tank that is still in existence because these kinds of tanks were developed in a manner that they get disposed of after the completion of their mission. The officials at the museum have outlined the road journey of the tank that is likely to take six to eight weeks. The journey will commence by barge in the middle of April 2016 from its current location of a NASA assembly facility in New Orleans.

The tank will then make its way through the Panama Canal and ports at Marina del Rey in California. The tank will subsequently begin its journey of 12 miles across the highways and streets to the museum located in downtown Los Angeles. This road journey is likely to be completed in 13 to 18 hours. The expected date of arrival of the tank at the museum is May 21, 2016.

The purpose of this tank was to fuel the engines, with oxygen and hydrogen, which powered the shuttles into the orbit. The tank would then subsequently drift off to either incinerate in the atmosphere itself or sink into the ocean. The tank never took off for the mission but played an extremely significant part during the investigation carried out for the space shuttle Columbia disaster.