{"id":3036,"date":"2026-07-03T23:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3036"},"modified":"2026-07-03T23:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T23:03:14","slug":"flagstaff-company-launches-mission-to-save-nasa-telescope-thats-falling-back-to-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3036","title":{"rendered":"Flagstaff company launches mission to save NASA telescope that\u2019s falling back to Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AP\/AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 An Arizona company is doing it\u2019s best to save a NASA telescope that\u2019s in danger of crashing back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Read more Mother accused of killing 9-month-old child after holding blanket over its head as she cried \u2018bloody murder,\u2019 prosecutors say<\/a><\/p>\n

Northrop Grumman launched Flagstaff-based Katalyst Space Technologies\u2019 Link spacecraft from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific on Friday. The Pegasus rocket blasted off from the belly of a modified airplane, putting Link on course to reach and capture NASA\u2019s Swift Observatory in about a month.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2004, Swift is sinking faster than ever because of recent solar storms. NASA is paying $30 million for Katalyst to capture the telescope and boost its orbit so it can continue tracking some of the biggest explosions in the universe, like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars.<\/p>\n

If all goes well, Swift could be back scanning the cosmos by September. Observations are currently on hold to preserve the telescope\u2019s orbit as long as possible.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope could be a candidate for a similar salvage operation in a few years. It\u2019s also slipping in altitude because of increased atmospheric drag caused by the sun\u2019s outbursts.<\/p>\n

The 1.6-ton (1.4-metric ton) Swift is currently circling 224 miles (360 kilometers) above Earth. Katalyst aims to raise the telescope\u2019s altitude by 150 miles (240 kilometers), back to where it all began. Link\u2019s thrusters will fire to boost Swift slowly, so there\u2019s no heavy jostling.<\/p>\n

Read more Crews respond to rescue situation in Madera Canyon<\/a><\/p>\n

Katalyst threw the mission together in just nine months. NASA insisted on a rush job because the telescope will be too low to recover by the fall. Without a boost, it\u2019s predicted to plunge to its demise in October.<\/p>\n

Bad weather and technical issues caused a series of last-minute launch delays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a high-risk, high-reward mission,\u201d Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee said ahead of liftoff. \u201cThe biggest danger was always we don\u2019t launch anything and we let Swift burn up in the atmosphere. So we were always trying to avoid that risk, and our team has done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Father of missing 4-year-old says people were \u2018snooping\u2019 around the house before her disappearance<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If all goes well, the telescope could be back scanning the cosmos by September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nFlagstaff company launches mission to save NASA telescope that\u2019s falling back to Earth - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3036\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flagstaff company launches mission to save NASA telescope that\u2019s falling back to Earth - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If all goes well, the telescope could be back scanning the cosmos by September.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3036\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T23:03:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Flagstaff company launches mission to save NASA telescope that\u2019s falling back to Earth\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T23:03:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036\"},\"wordCount\":424,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/809434493ddc4b516fce699f0497eeb6.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3036\",\"name\":\"Flagstaff company launches mission to save NASA telescope that\u2019s falling back to Earth - 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