NEW ORLEANS NASA's redesigned the fuel tank for next space mission so that it does not repeat the tragedy of Columbia shuttle. The main reason that caused Columbia disaster was that it had a chunk of foam that flew off the tank and struck a wing on the shuttle causing it to break apart over Texas.

The design of the shuttle's external tank was improved after an investigation pointed out certain discrepancies about the February 2003 Columbia disaster on a chunk of foam that flew off the tank and struck a wing on the shuttle,

NASA officials have called the redesigned tank the safest ever.

The fuel tank for the next space mission has commenced its five-day trip across the Gulf of Mexico today to the launch site on Florida's east coast. Officials say fixing the external tank was a key part of the shuttle program's return to space.

NASA plans to use the tank for a May or June launch of space shuttle Discovery. The shuttle fleet has been grounded since the Columbia accident as NASA scrambled to make changes in hardware, procedures and personnel to comply with recommendations from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

Workers at NASA's New Orleans facility rolled the massive tank onto a 200-foot barge for the trip down the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and into the Gulf.

The tank will travel around the Florida Keys and up the Banana River to arrive next week at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A Coast Guard patrol boat will escort the barge.

Sandy Coleman, NASA's external tank project manager, says the tank feels like their baby.