New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory re-entered Earth's atmosphere over Indonesia on November 4, closing a mission that spent nearly 22 years tracking some of the universe's most powerful explosions and coordinating observations around the world.

39 a.m. EST, or 12:39 UTC, over the North Sumatra region, NASA said in its updated mission announcement. The agency placed the event at approximately 3.4 degrees north latitude and 98.6 degrees east longitude.

NASA expected most of the spacecraft to burn up during atmospheric entry, although some components may have survived. The confirmation identifies where the spacecraft re-entered; it does not establish that surviving debris was recovered at those coordinates.

A two-y...