My point was that it would have been a waste of payload capability to take it into orbit, as after a certain point of the launch it would no longer serve a purpose.
Yeah, that’s right. Some years back there was a NGE (non-governmental entity) who said that the Shuttle tanks shouldn’t be jettisoned, but carried along and left in orbit, because just dumping them was wasting a potential resource (his idea being that they could be accumulated for use as shells for a space station), and that it didn’t take any extra energy. :’)