{"id":467771,"date":"2026-07-02T01:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=fa4db551c776fc6fe4ee331b33248a79"},"modified":"2026-07-02T01:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:20:29","slug":"link-spacecraft-set-for-mission-to-boost-nasas-swift-observatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=467771","title":{"rendered":"LINK Spacecraft Set for Mission to Boost NASA\u2019s Swift Observatory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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A Katalyst engineer runs tests on LINK while the satellite is inside the Pegasus XL rocket attached to the Stargazer aircraft at NASA\u2019s Wallops Flight Facility.<\/div>\n
NASA\/Ron Beard<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A first-of-its-kind mission<\/a> to raise the orbit of NASA\u2019s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory<\/a> is poised for launch no earlier than\u00a0Thursday, July 2, 5:09 a.m. EDT (9:09 p.m. UTC+12),\u00a0from Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. A robotic servicing spacecraft called LINK, built by Katalyst Space, will blast into orbit on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket attached to the belly of the company\u2019s Stargazer aircraft, shown here in this photograph from the evening of Tuesday, June 16, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After launch, LINK will attempt to rendezvous with, grapple, and slowly raise Swift\u2019s altitude over several months, preventing it from re-entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere later this year. If this daring mission is successful, it will be the first time a commercial robotic mission has captured a NASA spacecraft that is both uncrewed and not originally designed to be serviced in space.<\/p>\n

Follow the Swift blog to learn more about the mission.<\/a><\/p>\n

Image credit: NASA\/Ron Beard<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A first-of-its-kind mission to raise the orbit of NASA\u2019s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is poised for launch no earlier than\u00a0Thursday, July 2, 5:09 a.m. EDT (9:09 p.m. UTC+12),\u00a0from Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. A robotic servicing spacecraft called LINK, built by Katalyst Space, will blast [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20284],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-467771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swift-boost-mission"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t