UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., June 15 -- Pennsylvania State University issued the following news release:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - NASA's "rapid-response" space telescope is slowly falling out of orbit, but a daring mission this summer could allow the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to continue scanning the sky for many more years to come. In the first mission of its kind, a spacecraft will launch from Earth and rendezvous with Swift to boost it to a higher altitude and extend its life. Working together on the boost mission are Katalyst Space of Flagstaff, Arizona; NASA's Swift team, which includes the Mission Operations Center at Penn State; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; and Northrop Grumman.
Since its launch in 2004, Swift has observed the ...