NASA prepares for June 27 Swift telescope rescue launch (opens in new tab)

NASA plans to launch the Swift Boost mission on June 27 to try to keep the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in orbit after its orbit decayed faster than expected. The agency partnered with Arizona-based Katalyst Space to build LINK, a robotic servicing spacecraft designed to rendezvous with Swift, attach to an observatory that was not built for docking and raise it to a higher orbit. Engineers integrated the spacecraft with a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which was attached to the Stargaz...