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Spacecraft Sent on NASA Rescue Mission Now Needs Rescuing
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An unmanned spacecraft that was sent to rescue a falling NASA space telescope now needs an intervention of its own.
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory was launched in 2004 to observe gamma-ray bursts, bright flashes of high-energy light from violent explosions throughout the universe.
Katalyst was commissioned for a “high-risk, high-reward” effort to rush through a small rescue craft, called Link, to push Swift into a higher orbit.
But Link unexpectedly started tumbling just a few miles from Swift, making a full rotation every 40 seconds and putting the rescue mission in danger.
Link’s rendezvous with Swift has been delayed by at least a couple of weeks, but NASA said the agency was hopeful they would find a solution.