[net.columbia] Tanking Test

sjb (06/03/82)

Workers began a tanking test of the space shuttle today at
0730 EDT, 15 minutes ahead of schedule.  In it, supercold
liquids hydrogen and oxygen are pumped into the shuttle's
external tank, which is then put through a stress test.
The tanking test then leads up to a mock ignition of the
main engines, after which the fuels are unloaded and restored.
Thomas (not ken, as I said before) Mattingly and Henry
Hartsfield will not take part in the test.