For most of the shuttle, yes, but the removal of the paint from the tank specifically was because the tank had a foam coating that was not actually meaningfully protected by the paint.

Cooler with white, but heavier.

Is NASA run by orcs

Back when NASA was flinging things into space for the first time, the tolerances that were even possible were extremely tight. Every pound mattered (every pound still matters, but because we have other things to do once we get to space nowadays, plus every pound is expensive).

600 pounds of white paint for the fuel tank was considered unnecessary, once the engineering team figured that it didn't actually protect the special foam covering of the fuel tank anyway. Thus the distinctive orange color!

It's always hillarious to me to see boomers on expensive bikes that aim to save every gram while they could save 20kg on themselves.

But, why ? You drink a bit more water that day and it’s void.

Its simple rocket math. Every lb of weight must consume fuel.

Si.pky. 1 lb of weight needs 1 lb of fuel to escape orbit. But the fuel has weight also. So the effective fuel you need to lift the rocket and payload is exponential.

The harder stuff is orbital mechanics. Getting things into orbit is easy. Having thwm go where you want is the hard part.

That's why American Airlines had the "cheat line" livery. Bare hulls saved them enough weight to carry like an extra 2 passengers.

Plus, polished metal on airframes looks sweet IMHO. Real "DC3 golden era of aviation" vibes.

The polyurethane spray foam insulation is orange.

Found the Kerbal Space Program player?

Lower the inertial mass

—what to say when you want your obese Trekkie friend to take care of their health