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| Stargazer © NASA/Jamie Adkins |
The launch of Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK, designed to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, was postponed Tuesday due to unfavorable weather conditions. The next launch attempt is targeted for no earlier than Wednesday, July 1, at 9:43 p.m. UTC+12 (5:43 a.m. EDT), on Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Space.com website states that Swift Boost mission will be the last flight of the Pegasus rocket. Will there be another new design of a rocket that can be mated to the L-1011 or will this also mean the final end of an era for the aircraft type too?
An air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket is scheduled to fly for the very last time early Tuesday morning (June 30), sending a private spacecraft on a rescue mission to save one of NASA's most iconic space telescopes from falling back to Earth.
Full article here:
Space.com: NASA to launch rescue mission
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| Stargazer © NASA/Ron Beard |
Northrop Grumman's Stargazer aircraft will take off from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean, climb to about 40,000 feet, and drop a Pegasus XL rocket carrying Katalyst Space's LINK robotic servicing satellite. Pegasus XL’s three solid rocket motors will fire in sequence and deliver LINK to orbit to boost NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
Full news article:
As announced last year, Stargazer will soon perform another mission, named "Swift Boost" by NASA.
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| Stargazer © NASA/Ron Beard |
Last 18th, the aircraft with the Pegasus XL rocket already mated to it, departed from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility for Kwajalein Atoll where the launch will take place later this month.
NASA set up a special page for this mission:
NASA Science: Swift Boost Mission