Welcome back: NASA satellite plunges back to Earth after four decades in orbit
After almost 40 years circling earth, a retired NASA science satellite has plunged harmlessly through the atmosphere off the coast of Alaska, NASA says.
The satellite was launched by the late astronaut Sally Ride (NASA image).
The United States Defense Department confirmed that the satellite – placed in orbit in 1984 by astronaut Sally Ride – re-entered late on Sunday night over the Bering Sea, a few hundred kilometres from Alaska.
NASA said it has received no reports of injury or damage from falling debris.
Late last week, NASA said it expected most of the 2450-kilogram Earth Radiation Budget Satellite to burn up in the atmosphere but that some pieces might survive.
The space agency put the odds of falling debris injuring someone at 1-in-9400.
Space shuttle Challenger carried the satellite into orbit and the first US woman in space set it free.
The satellite measured ozone in the atmosphere and studied how earth absorbed and radiated energy from the sun before being retired in 2005, well beyond its expected working lifetime.
