Fiery finale for NASA's Swift telescope after 2 decades in space
Daily Sabah · Reuters ·
NASA's Swift satellite telescope, which spent two decades studying the most powerful known blasts of energy in the cosmos, tumbled out of orbit as...
NASA's Swift satellite telescope, which spent two decades studying the most powerful known blasts of energy in the cosmos, tumbled out of orbit as expected on Wednesday and burned up in Earth's atmosphere over Indonesia, the space agency reported.
The fiery demise of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, weighing roughly 3,200 pounds (1,452 kilograms), came less than three months after a rescue spacecraft failed its mission to boost the satellite to higher orbit and extend its life.
The U.S. Space Force confirmed that Swift's reentry occurred at 7:39 a.m. EST (12:39 p.m. GMT), as the satellite streaked into the upper atmosphere at about 22 times the speed of sound over Indonesia's North Sumatra province, roughly 200 miles (322 kilometers) north of the equator, according to NASA.
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