Swift Observatory is back on Earth

PARABNORMAL NEWS — After a failed rescue attempt months ago, NASA's Swift Observatory has fallen back to Earth.

NASA said this week that re-entry was expected on Wednesday and that most of the 3,200-pound satellite would burn up, but some debris could survive and reach the ground. Any surviving fragments were expected to fall within a band near the equator.

"The U.S. Space Force confirmed that the Swift spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 7:39 a.m. EST Wednesday over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, at approximately 3.4 degrees north latitude and 98.6 degrees east longitude," NASA announced.

Launched in 2004, Swift was designed for a two-year mission studying powerful cosmic explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. It went on to operate for nearly 22 years, making discoveries involving black holes, supernovae and other astronomical phenomena.