Two large fragments of a Delta second stage which re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on 22 January 1997 were recovered in Georgetown, Texas. The large object seen here is the main propellant tank made of stainless steel with a mass of more than 250 kg which landed only 45 metres from a farmer’s home. The full rocket was launched on 24 April 1996 and after delivering its payload to an orbit at 910 km altitude, the rocket stage was commanded to perform a propellant-depletion burn which moved the vehicle into a 207 x 860 km orbit. This manoeuvre reduced the orbital lifetime of the stage from several hundred years to only nine months.