On Nov. 10, 2013, Europe's GOCE satellite fell to Earth after four years in orbit mapping the planet's gravitational field.
GOCE, its name was short for Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, launched in 2009 on a mission to map Earth's gravity like never before. But despite that successful mission, it was doomed in 2013 when it ran out of fuel.
At the time, controllers weren't sure where GOCE would fall back to Earth. Some people worried that it might crash into a populated area. However, the small spacecraft broke up in the atmosphere and didn't cause any property damage.
It disintegrated about 50 miles above the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The European Space Agency called the mission a success. GOCE lasted far longer than expec...
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