February 24, 1996
Somewhere between the hydrogen and the starlight, between the gravity and the grace, the universe conspired to bring you into being.
Tanks for the Lift
Birthday · February 24, 1996
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published February 24, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Sixteen minutes after the liftoff of STS-29, the Space Shuttle Discovery's jettisoned External Tank (ET) 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. After carrying over 500,000 gallons of liquid propellant to feed the shuttle's main engines 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 shows a normal burn scar caused during the separation of one of the reusable solid rocket boosters.