One of NASA’s premier space telescopes has plunged to Earth, ending its 22-year investigation of the universe’s biggest explosions. The Swift Observatory’s demise on Wednesday came less than three months after a long-shot rescue mission failed. The U.S. Space Force confirmed Swift’s reentry near Indonesia after years of tracking its sinking orbit, the result of intense solar activity. NASA hired a private company to whip together an orbit-boosting effort. But the three-armed robotic craft ran into trouble following its July launch and came crashing down in September.





