NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Tanks for the Lift

Sixteen minutes after the liftoff of STS-29, the Space Shuttle Discovery's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] jettisoned External Tank (ET) [ http://www.ksc.nasa…] is seen here, in a photograph by shuttle astronaut James P. Bagian, falling back towards Earth. The 154 foot long ET is the largest non-reusable component in the Shuttle system [ http://seds.lpl.ari…]. After carrying over 500,000 gallons of liquid propellant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] to feed the shuttle's main engines [ http://www.ksc.nasa…sts-mps.html#sts-mps -ssme ] during liftoff, its ultimate fate is to re-enter the atmosphere, break up and descend into a remote ocean area. The side of this ET [ http://images.jsc.n…] shows a normal burn scar caused during the separation of one of the reusable solid rocket boosters [ http://www.ksc.nasa…].

NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/], STS-29 Crew [ http://www.ksc.nasa…], James P. Bagian [ http://www.jsc.nasa…].

Arizona

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Washington, D.C.

Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Earth

Space Shuttle Orbiter

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap960224