Rescue mission for aging NASA space telescope fails

A mission to rescue NASA’s aging Swift observatory in space was canceled on Wednesday after the spacecraft that was launched to tug the satellite to a higher orbit suffered irredeemable technical issues in space, the rescue craft’s owner, Katalyst Space, said.

Katalyst’s LINK craft was launched in early July to approach the observatory, ‌also known ⁠as ⁠Swift, some 216 miles (347 km) in space, grapple onto it and then tug it to a higher orbit of roughly 373 miles (600 km), extending its life by years.