NASA telescope is plunging back to Earth after 22 years in orbit

An aging NASA telescope is barely clinging to space after a failed rescue effort left it tottering lower and lower. The space agency said Monday it predicts the Swift Observatory will likely come crashing down on Wednesday. Most of the 1 ½-ton telescope is expected to burn up in the atmosphere. But a handful of pieces made of denser-than-lead tungsten and some mirror parts could survive reentry, according to NASA's Brad Cenko, the mission's chief scientist."As of Monday, the U.S. Space Force predicted that the roughly 3,200-pound spacecraft will re-enter the atmosphere at approximately 3:30 a.m. EST, Nov. 4, with an uncertainty of 11 hours," NASA said on Monday.

Any surviving wreckage will most likely plunge into the ocean. But swaths of Africa, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America are within the reentry zone. The U.S. Space Force is tracking the telescope's dwindling path.In a statement on Monday, NASA said the "risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is unlikely" — roughly 1 in 2,100. "NASA and Space Force will continue to monitor the re-entry and update predictions," the agency said. Its cosmic cremation has the Swift team mourning, yet full of gratitude, for the observations the telescope made during its 22 years in orbit. Swift blasted off on Nov. 20, 2004, to search for some