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The Latest: Space shuttle tank ends trek across Los Angeles

Traffic officers take photos with their phones as a space shuttle external propellant tank is moved through the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday, May 21, 2016. The ET-94 will be displayed with the retired space shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Original Publication Date May 21, 2016 - 9:35 AM

LOS ANGELES - The Latest on a space shuttle fuel tank heading to a Los Angeles museum (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

A towering space shuttle fuel tank has completed its trek through the streets of Los Angeles to reach the California Science Center in downtown.

ET-94, the last remaining external fuel tank from NASA's space shuttle program arrived just after 7 p.m. Saturday, wrapping up a carefully-co-ordinated journey down 16 1/2 miles of streets to the museum at Exposition Park.

The tank, which arrived by barge from a NASA facility in Louisiana to Marina del Rey on Wednesday, began moving shortly after midnight. It was escorted by police, a fire truck and several city officials as it moved through city streets where crews trimmed a few trees and unbolted stoplight poles so they wouldn't hit the tank.

At the museum, the tank will be displayed upright along with the retired orbiter Endeavor and two solid-rocket boosters, as if ready for takeoff.

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5 p.m.

The colossal space shuttle fuel tank ET-94 has reached South Los Angeles and is expected to arrive at its destination ahead of schedule.

A spokeswoman for the California Science Center says the tank is expected to arrive at the downtown museum between 5:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday.

The towering sausage-shaped tank made one of its last turns with ease and is heading north en route to the museum on Vermont Avenue.

Spectators continue to line the streets to catch a glimpse of the tank.

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.

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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.

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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 16 1/2 miles of streets, avenues and boulevards from Marina del Rey on the coast to the centre 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 centre 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.

News from © The Associated Press, 2016
The Associated Press

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