NASA's $30 million mission to save a $500 million space telescope has failed, sealing the fate of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The observatory is now expected to plunge into Earth's atmosphere and burn up later this year, the agency confirmed on Wednesday in Washington.
The attempted rescue was meant to buy years of extra life for Swift, which has circled the planet since 2004. The spacecraft has been tracking gamma-ray bursts and other powerful cosmic events.
