Inside NASA's daring mission to rescue a falling space telescope

• The Swift Observatory was launched into space in 2004 from what is now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
• NASA is planning a first-of-its-kind mission to save the Swift Observatory from falling back to Earth.
• A commercial spacecraft will launch to intercept the telescope and boost it to a higher altitude.
• This will be the first time a commercial robotic spacecraft captures a government satellite not designed for in-space servicing.

NASA is planning a daring mission to save one of its space telescopes that is in danger of falling back to Earth.

The Swift Observatory has been observing the cosmos for more than two decades since its launch from Florida while orbiting around Earth. But in recent years, NASA has noticed that the critical satellite has begun unexpectedly getting lower and lower – putting it in danger of burning up in Earth's atmosphere.

Now, the U.S. space agency is preparing to mount a rescue mission later in June – the likes of which has never before been attempted. And the plan to stave of Swift's fiery demise has been in the works for less than a year.

If all goes to plan, a commercial spacecraft would launch on a commercial rocket on a trajectory to intercept NASA's telescope and reverse its decaying orbit by boosting it to a higher altitude, extending the mission’s life. A successful mission would mark the first time that a commercial robotic spacecraft captured a government satellite that – unlike other spacecraft like the Hubble Space Telescope – was never meant to be serviced in space.

Here's everything to know about the mission.

What is the Swift Observatory?

NASA's Swift Observatory launched in November 2004 atop Boeing's expendable Delta II rocket from what is now known as the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Since then, the telescope has spent more than two decades orbiting Earth while studying a variety of cosmic phenomena. The satellite's primary objective, though, is to observe gamma-ray bursts – events triggered by the catastrophic deaths of massive stars that considered to be the most powerful types of explosions in the universe.

The satellite is equipped with three multiwavelength telescopes that are able to collect data in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray light.

Swift space telescope falls faster to Earth than expected

The Swift Observatory is in a region of space known as low-Earth orbit nearer to the atmosphere, which is also where the International Space Station resides.

All spacecraft in that region can expect to fall to lower altitudes if they don't have propulsion systems to counteract atmospheric drag and maintain their orbits. But the Swift Observatory has fallen faster than NASA has anticipated due to increased solar storms since fall 2024.

NASA plans mission to rescue Swift

NASA could allow the Swift Observatory to fall back to Earth, where it would harmlessly burn up as it careened into the atmosphere.

Instead, the space agency is planning a mission to rescue the telescope and extend its mission for several more years. The venture would be unprecedented, but NASA leaders say it would simultaneously test a new capability that could be used on other missions while negating the need to spend even more money to replace the observatory.

The risky plan involves launching a spacecraft tasked with capturing Swift and raising its orbit throughout the course of several months, according to NASA. In the meantime, mission teams on the ground are keeping Swift at least 185 miles above Earth, where the boost mission has the best chance of success, NASA said.

Arizona aerospace company develops rescue spacecraft in less than a year

To accomplish the feat, NASA will need a spacecraft designed to rendezvous with the Swift Observatory, and a rocket to launch it into space.

Katalyst Space, an aerospace company based in Flagstaff, Arizona, was awarded the $30 million contract in September 2025 to design the spacecraft meant to boost Swift's orbit. With less than a year to help NASA mount a rescue mission, Katalyst developed the LINK robotic servicing spacecraft intended to latch onto a space telescope that was never meant to be captured.

Because Swift has no docking ports or grappling fixtures to grab onto, Katalyst built LINK with a custom robotic capture mechanism that will attach to a feature on the satellite’s main structure. The process is meant to mitigate the chance of any sensitive instruments being damaged, Katalyst said in a press release.

Why such a quick turnaround? Because Swift is falling – and falling fast.

According to Katalyst, the satellite has a 50% chance of making an uncontrolled reentry by mid-2026 without intervention, with those odds increasing to 90% by the end of 2026.

Northrop Grumman to launch spacecraft. When, where is liftoff?

LINK will hitch a ride to space with a rocket manufactured by Northrop Grumman, a Virginia-based aerospace and defense company. At about 55 feet tall, Northrop Grumman's Pegasus XL is classified as a small-lift rocket regarded as the world's first privately developed orbital launch vehicle.

LINK has already been securely encapsulated inside a payload fairing with Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket at NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, according to Katalyst.

The Pegasus XL rocket is due to launch later in June from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located in the central Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines, according to NASA.

Rather than get the rocket off the ground vertically on a launch pad, Northrop Grumman deploys an air-launch strategy to send the Pegasus to space. The approach will involve the company's Stargazer L-1011 aircraft to take off and climb to approximately 40,000 feet over the ocean, where Pegasus will be released and ignite its first stage rocket motor, according to Northrop Grumman.

Pegasus was mated in mid-June to the Stargazer aircraft, which will transport it from the Wallops facility to the Marshall Islands ahead of the launch, NASA said in a press release.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.