NASA Calls Off the Mission to Raise Swift Spacecraft’s Orbit

Image: NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shown in this artist’s concept, has orbited Earth for more than 20 years, studying the ever-changing universe. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab. Article by Vytautas Valinskas. Technology.org – August 21, 2026.

NASA ends the Swift rescue attempt

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is now expected to re-enter and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere later this year. NASA and Katalyst Space have abandoned the plan to capture the satellite and push it into a higher orbit, defeated by an attitude control problem on the rescue spacecraft itself. […]

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