By 
November 4th, 2026
Artist’s view of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory orbiting above Earth.
Image credit: Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory careened into the Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, Nov. 4, almost 22 years after launch.
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.
According to NASA, most of the spacecraft was to have burned up as it sped through the atmosphere, but some components may have survived reentry.
Image credit: LastOrbit by Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, Director, International Astronomical Center (IAC)
Eyewitness reports
On the ground observers in Malaysia confirm the sighting of the final throes of the Swift observatory.
As it entered the atmosphere, the roughly 3,200-pound spacecraft is likely to have shed dense components made of heavy materials like titanium structural housings, tungsten parts, and nickel mirror assemblies – hardware that could have made it to the surface.
Whether these items fell to the ground or plunged into the ocean is unknown at this posting.
Image credit: Utusan Melayu Plus/TULAR video
Internet posted videos of the event — shared by Hazari Ahmad, a member of the International Astronomical Center from Brunei — can be viewed at the following links:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DfUrJfjnA4V/
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1A9dpZFN2P/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Posted in Space News
