NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies now work to re-orient the mission to attempt a rendezvous and perform proximity operations. What Happened The mission to boost Swift began on July 3 and was intended to prevent the 22 year-old observatory from entering a decaying orbit that would eventually cause it to burn up in our atmosphere later this fall. By mid July, NASA was already reporting attitude control issues with LINK, the servicing spacecraft developed by Katalyst Space.

Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket launched Katalyst Space’s LINK spacecraft, supporting a mission to boost NASA’S Swift Observatory. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)

Saving The Swift Observatory During a media event at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on June 17th, 2026 the teams from across NASA, Katalyst Space and Northrop Grumman came together to discuss the challenges and accomplishments surrounding the critical and time sensitive mission to save the $500 million dollar Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from a decaying orbit. What makes this observatory unique? Swift was built to hunt some of the universe’s most powerful explosions: gamma-

A first-of-its-kind robotic servicing mission aimed at preserving NASA's Swift Observatory is advancing toward launch as the highly anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope makes its way to Kennedy Space Center to prepare for its own mission.