The reentry of NASA's dead Swift space telescope is the end of an era for rapid-response space science.

One of NASA’s premier space telescopes plunged to Earth on Wednesday, ending its 22-year investigation of the universe’s biggest explosions. The Swift Observatory’s demise came less than three months after a long-shot rescue mission failed.

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory fell to a fiery end early Wednesday nearly 22 years after it launched.

NASA's Swift Observatory is about to make a fiery reentry through Earth's atmosphere after a private mission to save it failed. Most of the spacecraft will burn up in orbit.