NASA's Swift Telescope Falls to Earth Over Indonesia
NASA's Swift space telescope has re-entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed over Indonesia. The satellite had orbited Earth for 22 years before the crash. Reports describe the fall as a fiery finale, marking the end of a long-running space mission for NASA.
Context
Context: Swift launched in 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts, huge explosions in space, and helped astronomers track many of them. Old satellites in low orbit slowly drop back as air drag pulls them down, so re-entries are becoming more common.
Burning Potato score: 59%