A NASA telescope is slowly plummeting to earth and there's no way to save it

NPR | By Danielle Kurtzleben ,

Henry Larson, Tinbete Ermyas

Published August 23, 2026 at 4:23 PM CDT

NASA's Swift Observatory has orbited the Earth since 2004. It's now falling towards earth, and after a failed mission to save it, NASA is leaving the doomed telescope to its fate.

Danielle Kurtzleben

Danielle Kurtzleben is a White House correspondent on NPR's Washington Desk. She appears regularly on the NPR Politics Podcast and other NPR shows.

See stories by Danielle Kurtzleben

Henry Larson

Tinbete Ermyas

See stories by Tinbete Ermyas

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