NASA mission to save its sinking space telescope fails
Aug. 19, 2026, 4:54 PM GMT-5 / By Denise ChowA mission to prevent a NASA space telescope from coming to a fiery demise in Earth’s atmosphere has failed, the agency announced Wednesday.
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched into low Earth orbit in 2004, has been rapidly sinking in its orbit around Earth and is expected to plunge through the atmosphere later this year, breaking apart on re-entry.
Last month, NASA launched a first-of-its-kind rescue mission to boost the Swift observatory to a higher altitude, aiming to extend its life and keep its science work going. To do that, the Arizona-based company Katalyst Space Technologies developed a spacecraft called LINK, which was designed to capture the observatory and raise its orbit over several months.
LINK launched July 3 on Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket. Then the problems began.
NASA mission to save its sinking space telescope fails
NASA had hoped to prevent its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from falling toward Earth and breaking apart in the atmosphere. But the spacecraft tasked with the rescue ran into problems.
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L.E.O.= Low Earth Orbit