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NASA 将于 6 月 30 日启动救援任务，以拯救 Swift 太空望远镜免于在地球大气层中燃烧
诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司将从飞机上发射一枚火箭，以拯救 NASA 的 SWIFT 太空望远镜免于脱离轨道。
来源:Space.com: NASA，太空探索和天文新闻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.
The Swift Boost mission will send the LINK satellite, built by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies, to grapple NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and tow it to a stable orbit, saving it from impending destruction as its trajectory dips farther into the atmosphere. LINK, aboard Pegasus, will take off from Bucholz Army Airfield at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, secured to Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer jet.
发射计划于周二美国东部时间上午 6:23（格林尼治标准时间 1023）。一旦飞机到达约 39,000 英尺（12,000 米），飞行速度为 0.82 马赫，Pegasus 就会被 Stargazer 释放。五秒钟后，火箭将点燃发动机并升入轨道。
Pegasus is a three-stage, solid rocket-propelled launch vehicle that measures 55 feet in length (16.9 meters), capable of delivering up to 1,000 pounds (454 kg) into low-earth orbit (LEO).与观星者号分离后，火箭的各个阶段依次点火，在大约 10 分钟内达到预定高度。
Pegasus 于 1990 年首次亮相，至今已完成 45 次飞行任务。 Its aerial deployment and flexibility to take off from different airfields allows the rocket to enter hard-to-reach orbital inclinations that are inaccessible from many major spaceports. That's one of the reasons Pegasus is launching LINK, a robotic servicing satellite that can reach Swift's low 20.6-degree inclination relative to Earth's equator.
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After its release from Pegasus' payload bay and initial systems checkouts, the Katalyst spacecraft will begin its long course to rendezvous with Swift. Before beginning its final approach, LINK will spend two to three weeks performing observations of Swift to assess optimal grapple points on the observatory.