German Space Telescope

Kepler's "goodnight" falls on the same date as the 388-year anniversary of the death of its namesake, German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

After the six-tonne UARS satellite of NASA that crashed into the Pacific ocean over a week ago, another is approaching fast for a fiery death plunge soon. This time, it's a defunct German space telescope called ROSAT, which is set to hit the planet at the end of October or early November, scientists said.

Kepler's "goodnight" falls on the same date as the 388-year anniversary of the death of its namesake, German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

After the six-tonne UARS satellite of NASA that crashed into the Pacific ocean over a week ago, another is approaching fast for a fiery death plunge soon. This time, it's a defunct German space telescope called ROSAT, which is set to hit the planet at the end of October or early November, scientists said.