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NASA Telescope Plunges Toward Earth After Failed Rescue

scienceNov 5, 2026·375 words·3 min read

NASA (the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) said its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a space telescope that spent 22 years studying the universe's most violent explosions, was expected to fall back to Earth on Wednesday, 4 November. The US Space Force predicted that the 3,200-pound spacecraft would re-enter the atmosphere at around 3:30 a.m. US Eastern Time, with a margin of error of 11 hours. Its descent is uncontrolled.

Swift went into space in 2004. Its job was to find gamma-ray bursts — huge flashes of energy from far away in space. It was built to work for only two years, but it worked for more than 20. Strong activity on the Sun pulled it down faster than usual. A company called Katalyst Space sent a robot to push it higher, but the robot could not reach it. By late October, Swift was too low, so it was turned off.

Swift found more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars. It also sent quick alerts to other telescopes, such as Hubble and Webb. Scientists are still trying to work out how to replace it. "What goes up must come down," said John Nousek, an astronomer who led the team.

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