Nature
A spacecraft is falling to its doom — can NASA save it?
NEWS
22 June 2026
A successful rescue of the Swift space observatory could be a good omen for the Hubble Space Telescope.
By
Alexandra Witze
Alexandra Witze writes for Nature from Colorado.
The mission is risky, daring and unprecedented: save an ageing NASA satellite from an impending fiery death. The rescue effort, which is slated to begin as early as this week, could pave the way towards extending the life of other space observatories — even, maybe, the Hubble Space Telescope.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01949-z
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