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Photos of NASA's Huge Falling Satellite UARS

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UARS Preflight Processing

NASA Johnson Space Center

Kennedy Space Center (KSC) technicians, wearing clean suits, prepare the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) for the installation of the high-gain antenna on the instrument module.

Basic Components of UARS

NASA Orbital Debris Program Office

These two diagrams detail the basic components of NASA's UARS satellite.

Downrange Spread of Surviving Debris

NASA Orbital Debris Program Office

This graph indicates what UARS components might be expected to fall to earth and their relative locations.

UARS Satellite in Orbit

NASA

An artist's concept of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) satellite in space. The 6 1/2-ton satellite was deployed from space shuttle Discovery in 1991 and decommissioned in December 2005.

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