After days of suspense about where the final remnants of a defunct, 13,000-pound U.S. climate satellite would land on Earth, early Saturday NASA said the wreckage had plunged through the atmosphere but that the agency was still working to confirm "the precise re-entry time and location."
In its latest update, NASA said Pentagon trackers had determined the satellite "penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean" between 11:23 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 23 and and 1:09 a.m on Sept. 24.
The announcement capped hours of uncertainty about the precise trajectory of the fiery re-entry, as atmospheric conditions and other factors changed the tumbling satellite's speed and orbit. Those shifts, in turn, prompted NASA experts to reassess their predictions of likely impact areas
Without identifying where some parts may have landed, NASA said the satellite was passing on an easterly course over Canada and Africa during the final phases of its descent, as well as over vast oceanic regions.
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