SLS tank Huntsville-bound

NEW ORLEANS — NASA is moving a massive liquid hydrogen tank to Huntsville, Ala., for testing as part of its plans to eventually return to the moon. The 149-foot-long tank, which weighs more than 100,000 pounds and is the largest ever built here, is part of the Space Launch System. The tank moved Friday from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is a test model that won't actually be launched. It was moved out of the factory to the barge Pegasus. It will travel up river to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, where it will undergo tests designed to mimic the conditions of traveling into space.The tank holds 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen that along with liquid oxygen will help propel the rocket and its cargo into space. (Sources: AP via WDRB, 12/14/18)