The Swift Observatory, a 1.5-ton NASA telescope that was launched more than two decades ago, has crashed back to Earth after an effort to rescue the wayward instrument failed earlier this year. The roughly 3,200-pound observatory reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 7:39 a.m. ET over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, NASA said. Much of it…
An aging NASA telescope is barely clinging to space after a failed rescue effort left it tottering lower and lower. The space agency said Monday it predicts the Swift Observatory will likely come crashing down on Wednesday. Most of the 1 ½-ton telescope is expected to burn up in the atmosphere. But a handful of…
The mission to save NASA’s sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year. NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies announced the news more than a month after the startup’s Link spacecraft rocketed away to the telescope’s rescue. Katalyst said Link will not attempt to capture Swift and…
