Florida Roadside Attractions: The Space Shuttle External Tank

Roughly thirty minutes west of Saint Augustine and I-95 in Florida, a Space Shuttle relic sits abandoned in Green Cove Springs near a dock on the Saint Johns River. While not technically a “Florida roadside attraction”, many view it as a pretty neat thing to see…after all, it is NASA history.

What Is It?

A Space Shuttle External tank test article. The tank was built for the Space Shuttle program in 1977 and used for testing the systems that eventually flew into space.

The tank has been in Green Cove Springs since 2013. It was auctioned to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Keystone Heights, Florida.

SpaceFlight Insider excellently documented the whole story: the External Tank in Green Cove Springs was the last of three test tanks made to be used as structural and stress tests of the Space Shuttle design. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, used the tank between 1977 and 1980.

After it finished its role in the testing, the tank was used for displays and traveled first from Alabama to Mississippi, then to Kennedy Space Center where it was displayed at the Visitor’s Center on-site until 2013. That year, KSCVC needed room for the building that houses the Space Shuttle Atlantis, so the tank was auctioned by NASA as surplus. The eventual winner was the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Keystone Heights, Florida, which planned to put the artifact on display.

Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum barged the External Tank north to Green Cove Springs, roughly thirty-three miles to the east. It was hauled off the barge, parked for what was supposed only be a few months, and then towed the rest of the way to the museum.

And that’s where the Wings of Dreams plan fell apart: thirty-three miles with only secondary roads between the sites proved to be full of obstacles — power and cable lines, traffic lights, tight turn radiuses and so forth in the way. The museum never could figure out how to get the External Tank to their location.

So it is here that the external tank has been sitting for 11 years now.

Meanwhile, the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum closed their doors in 2019.

While this is not an actual flight article, it’s about as close as you can get to one without it being the real thing. It’s a nice Florida roadside side trip — the Saint Johns River in Green Cove Springs is a hub of recreational boating commerce as well. Fishermen often line the banks near the bridge over the river leading to town, which presents a beautiful view. Parking is easy, and there is no charge to take a look.

More photos are below:

Getting There:

Green Cove Springs is roughly 20-30 minutes off of I-95, and the External Tank is only few blocks off the road into town.

Google Maps Link: Space Shuttle External Tank, Green Cove Springs