Pieces of a puzzle
The tank was mated with a pair of rocket boosters that lifted the iconic Space Shuttle to orbit, which were in turn stacked in their final vertical position at the space center in November.
The first part of the process involved installing the rocket’s aft skirts—a pair of skirt-shaped bottom segments that form the base of the solid rocket boosters. The solid rocket motors were then stacked on top of the aft skirts to form the solid rocket boosters. Now that the tank is in place, the next step will be the intricate mating of the orbiter with the rest of the Shuttle stack.
