NASA mission to rescue the falling Swift observatory has launched - Engadget

A robotic spacecraft called LINK will soon tug the telescope to a higher orbit. The NASA Swift Boost mission has launched from Marshall Islands on July 3 at 4:36AM Eastern time after a couple of delays, and the agency has started preparing it for its ultimate goal: To rescue the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which is falling faster than anticipated. Swift Boost's ground teams have already established communication with LINK, the robotic spacecraft designed by Arizona company Katalyst Space to dock with the observatory and to tug it back into a higher orbit. It wasn't your typical rocket launch. LINK was attached to a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which was in turn attached to the belly of a plane called Stargazer. The plane took off from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands and then released the Pegasus XL rocket in the air at an altitude of around 40,000. After free falling for a few seconds, the rocket's engines fired up to deliver LINK to space. NASA says making contact with LINK was the mission's first objective, and it was successful in doing so. LINK has already powered on and will undergo health checks by Katalyst over the next several weeks to assess its propulsion, se