Posted: Wed, Jan 30, 2002, 8:33 AM ET (1333 GMT)
NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft is expected to reenter the Earth's atmosphere by Thursday morning, the space agency announced Tuesday. The spacecraft is scheduled to come down between 10 pm EST Wednesday and 7 am EST Thursday (0300 to 1200 GMT Thursday); an exact time of reentry will not be known until 12 hours before impact. Up to 100 kilograms of titanium and stainless steel from the 3,200-kg spacecraft could survive reentry and crash to Earth, although NASA officials stressed that those pieces will most likely crash into the ocean. The impact site will be between 28.5 degrees north and south latitude. EUVE was launched in June 1992 on a three-year mission to survey the universe at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, a band of light not visible from the surface of the Earth. EUVE continues operating until January 2001, after NASA determined that continued operation of the spacecraft was not cost-effective.

Related Links:

•  NASA press release
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  CNN article
•  EUVE reentry news from The Aerospace Corporation