Photos of NASA's Huge Falling Satellite UARS

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UARS Preflight Processing

NASA Johnson Space Center

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.

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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.

Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.