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Detail of the fuel return manifold and the flow vanes of the turbine exhaust manifold.

Fuel flows down two adjacent tubes, cooling the engine wall (known as "regenerative cooling"). It reaches the fuel return manifold (the silver ring at the exit plane of the thrust chamber), where it returned through two "up" tubes, reaching the fuel manifold and then being injected into the combustion chamber.

Turbine exhaust flows through the heat exchanger and then exit through the flow vanes on the aft end of the turbine exhaust manifold, enter the double-walled nozzle extension, and finally enter the main exhaust flow through gaps in the shingles comprising the nozzle extension inner wall and thus provide film cooling to the nozzle extension.