NASA and startup company call off rescue mission to save aging space telescope

NASA and a startup company have canceled the Swift Boost Mission, an ambitious effort to rescue the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The mission aimed to demonstrate the ability to grab and move a satellite to a higher orbit. However, the attempt was aborted after the privately built spacecraft, LINK, experienced persistent attitude control issues. Consequently, the observatory, which lacks its own propulsion system and fell into an unstable orbit, will eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere.