Update for July 2: After takeoff and a quick flight of Northrop Grumman’s Stargazer airplane, “a launch vehicle issue temporarily prevented teams from deploying the rocket,” in keeping with a NASA update. A brand new launch date can be decided after groups assess the standing of the Pegasus XL launch car.
An air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket will son fly for the final time, sending a non-public spacecraft on a rescue mission to save lots of one in all NASA’s most iconic area telescopes from falling again to Earth.
After two weather delays, and an unknown issue with the launch vehicle, a new launch date is now being determined. Once flown to altitude, Pegasus will be released by Stargazer once the aircraft reaches about 39,000 feet (12,000 meters), traveling at Mach 0.82. Five seconds later, the rocket will ignite its engine and ascend to orbit.
Pegasus is a three-stage, solid rocket-propelled launch vehicle that measures 55 feet in length (16.9 meters), capable of delivering up to 1,000 pounds (454 kg) into low-earth orbit (LEO). Following its separation from the Stargazer, the rocket’s stages are ignited in sequence to reach its intended altitude in about 10 minutes.
Pegasus debuted in 1990, and has since flown 45 missions. Its aerial deployment and flexibility to take off from different airfields allows the rocket to enter hard-to-reach orbital inclinations that are inaccessible from many major spaceports. That’s one of the reasons Pegasus is launching LINK, a robotic servicing satellite that can reach Swift’s low 20.6-degree inclination relative to Earth’s equator.
Another reason NASA chose the Pegasus rocket for this mission was time, which is running out for Swift. The $500 million Swift Observatory was launched in November 2004 to study gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy events across the universe. And, despite its more than 20 years of operation, Swift is still providing scientific value.
Its orbit, though, has begun to dip dangerously low, where recent solar activity has increased atmospheric drag at higher LEO altitudes and will soon overcome the spacecraft, dragging it to its ultimate demise. Swift, unfortunately, was not designed to be serviced, and wasn’t built with the thrusters it needs to raise its own orbit.
Enter LINK.
After its release from Pegasus’ payload bay and initial systems checkouts, the Katalyst spacecraft will begin its long course to rendezvous with Swift. Before beginning its final approach, LINK will spend two to three weeks performing observations of Swift to assess optimal grapple points on the observatory.
LINK measures about 4.9 feet (1.5 m) tall, and is equipped with three robotic arms that will be used to capture Swift, which stretches about 12.7 feet (3.9 m). Once a grab-point is chosen and Swift secured, LINK will fire a set of gentle ion thrusters that will slowly raise the pair’s orbit over the next several months.
LINK is poised to be the first private spacecraft to attempt to capture an uncrewed U.S. government satellite. NASA selected Katalyst for the task in September 2025, with less than a year to carry out LINK’s design, manufacture and testing. Despite its urgency and the relative short notice to get LINK in orbit, the entire Swift rescue mission and launch only cost NASA $30 million.
“While NASA could have allowed Swift to re-enter the atmosphere, the situation presented an opportunity to demonstrate a key capability for the future of space exploration. This daring approach also extends Swift’s scientific lifetime and is more affordable than replacing the observatory’s unique capabilities,” NASA states on the Swift Boost mission page.
The purpose is to return Swift to its authentic altitude of about 373 miles (600 km), which is able to prolong the observatory’s life expectancy by plenty of years, offered its techniques proceed to function as designed.