MPTA-ET
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The Main Propulsion Test Article ET was built by NASA to be used in conjunction with MPTA-098 for structural tests of the Space Shuttle Main Engines prior to construction of flyable craft. It rolled off the assembly line on September 9, 1977 at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was then transported to the National Space Technology Laboratories in southern Mississippi where it was used in the static test firing of the Shuttle's cluster of three main engines.
[edit] Present status
The MPTA-ET is currently mated to the Space Shuttle Pathfinder mock-up, and two Advanced Solid Rocket Booster casings as a complete shuttle stack. The setup is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
As time has gone on NASA has borrowed parts from the SRB's Pathfinder mock-up to be used in other research. These parts were replaced with reproductions.
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| Main articles | Space Shuttle · Space Shuttle program |  |
| Components | Orbiter · SRB · External Tank · SSME · OMS | |
| Orbiters | Enterprise · Columbia · Challenger · Discovery · Atlantis · Endeavour | |
| Launch sites | Kennedy Space Center LC-39 · Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-6 | |
| Developments | Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle · Shuttle-C · Ares I · Ares V | |
| Testing | Pathfinder · MPTA · MPTA-ET | |
| Other articles | Missions (cancelled) · Decision to build · Crews · Abort modes · Space shuttles in fiction · Crawler-transporter · Space Shuttle America (motion simulator ride) · Shuttle Mockup Explorer | |
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