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All the United States Alabama Huntsville MPTA-098

MPTA-098

A propulsion engine testbed that paved the way for the Space Shuttle launch sits without recognition at this rocket center.

Huntsville, Alabama

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Robert Rose
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MPTA-098 with Pathfinder and its previous companion MPTA-ET.   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
MPTA-098 from the front.   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
MPTA-098 from the back right.   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
MPTA-098 from the right   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
Right side close up of MPTA-098   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
Inner close up of MPTA-098   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
MPTA-098 from the back right.   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
Main Propulsion Test Article being lifted onto its test stand in 1977.   NASA
MPTA-098 from the back.   Robert Rose / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
Classic photo of MPTA Main Engines   NASA
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About

It may not look like much more than a strangely shaped hunk of metal, but this contraption was a key part in paving the way for NASA’s Space Shuttle program. It’s one of only three listed Space Shuttle test articles today.

The Main Propulsion Test Article 098 (MPTA-098) was a testbed for the United States shuttle program. It was built with a complete Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) assembly and used in combination with the Main Propulsion Test Article External Tank (MPTA-ET).

Having overcome two major failures, the MPTA-098 went on to have a number of successes. What is perhaps its biggest moment of glory took place with just three months to go before the big launch of Space Transportation System-1 (NASA’s Space Shuttle program’s first orbital spaceflight). On January 17, 1981, MPTA-098 fired for 625 seconds, doing everything needed to get the SSME cleared to fly. This amazing achievement cleared the way for the first space shuttle launch on April 12, 1981.

Yet despite this accomplishment, the MPTA-098 went unused again until 1988. Late into 1988, it was revived to help develop the then-proposed Shuttle-C Vehicle. However, the body became disassembled in 1990 after the Shuttle-C program was cancelled.

Now on display (though without a sign so you have to know what to look for) at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, it can be seen without truss work, near the MPTA-ET and one of the other three Space Shuttle test articles, the Space Shuttle Pathfinder.

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Space Exploration Aircraft Technology Nasa

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The address listed are the coordinates of the structure within the site. Onsite it is found to the left of the Space Camp Astrotrek building.

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Robert Rose

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Collector of Experiences

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March 23, 2018

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  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPTA-098
  • https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/orbiters.html
MPTA-098
1 Tranquility Base
34°42'36.7"N 86°39'07.2"W
Huntsville, Alabama
United States
34.710194, -86.652
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