NASA's Swift Space Telescope Returns to Earth After 22-Year Mission

NASA's famous Swift Space Telescope has finally returned to Earth. On 4 November 2026, at 7: 39 am Eastern Time, it entered the atmosphere over North Sumatra. This minibus-sized observatory, weighing about 1450 kg, studied the most powerful explosions in the universe for 22 years. After the rescue attempt failed, its uncontrolled collapse was fixed. According to NASA, most of it burned up and the possibility of harming anyone was only 1 in 2100. Swift was launched in November 2004. Its original mission was only two years, in which to study gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe. This observatory was so agile that it rotated its telescopes within a minute of detecting a burst. That is why it was named Swift, which means fast bird in English. In 2018, it was named after its first chief scientist, Neil Gehrs. Despite the possibility of harming anyone in 1, 2100, the Neil Gehrs-Berft SuperSwift mission worked for more than two decades.