A truck-sized NASA space telescope is about to crash to Earth

NASA’s Swift Observatory is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday after efforts to raise its orbit failed. The ageing telescope has operated for almost 22 years, far beyond its original mission, and its descent marks the end of a long-running observatory that studied gamma-ray bursts and other space phenomena.

The spacecraft weighs about 3,200 pounds and measures 5.6 metres tall and 5.4 metres wide, including its solar arrays. NASA expects most of it to burn up, though some parts may survive; it estimates the chance of harm to anyone on Earth at about 1 in 2,100. A rescue attempt ended after the Link spacecraft developed attitude-control problems, while solar storms had pushed Swift into a lower orbit.