Jul 03 2026 > LINK Katalyst > Pegasus XL NG > L-1011 Stargazer NG > Mission to Boost Orbit of the Swift GRB Telescope

NASA Launches Link Using Pegasus Rocket To Save Swift Observatory: Aviation Week.

 

Swift Boost Mission: Next Space Flight. 

Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory NASA Blog - Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is a satellite that studies gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, and other cosmic objects and events.

 

 

Swift Norad ID: 28485.

 

 

  Flight Aware: PKWA. 

Flight Radar 24: PKWA.

 

 

 

Flight Aware: N140SC. 

Flight Radar 24: N140SC. 

   

  

 

 

  

Ronald Reagan Space and Missile Test Range: Wiki.

 

 

 

Pegasus XL Rocket Mated to Stargazer for Swift Boost Mission: NASA SVS.

ISS Visiting Vehicles > Expedition 74 > Current Status

Dragon Undocks to Return Science Experiments to Earth: 20260616.

The Road to Space Runs through the Poles

High Latitudes, Highly Important.

Although it’s not widely recognized, the polar regions are vital to space access and operations. This is due to the particular value of polar and near-polar orbits for a wide variety of useful satellite missions. High-latitude launch sites make it easier to put satellites into orbits with high inclination, and high-latitude ground stations are the best locations for communicating with satellites in polar orbits. 

 

Satellites in polar orbits travel around the globe from pole to pole and can provide pictures of every inch of the planet as it rotates beneath them. These orbits are useful for everything from weather forecasting to intelligence gathering. Also useful are sun-synchronous (near-polar) orbits, in which a satellite syncs up with the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. These satellites will pass over the same places at the same time every day — when shadows will be similar — giving them obvious utility for a variety of observations. 

 

The geographic and physical realities of the poles amplify emerging challenges in the current space race: the increasingly blurred lines between private commercial and official military ways, means, and objectives. Satellite data used for navigation can be used for targeting, while weather data can support civilian activities and military planning — it is inherently dual-use. 

 

For satellites in polar and near-polar orbits, polar ground stations are critical for consistent telemetry, tracking, and command. Polar ground stations have high access density, meaning they can communicate with many satellites every day, since polar orbit tracks converge around the poles. The ability of polar ground stations to support frequent contact and rapid data return makes them key to bringing down significant quantities of data and monitoring adversary satellite activity. New technologies like intersatellite optical communications may eventually reduce the burden on polar facilities, but until these technologies are widely adopted, polar ground stations will be critical.

 

The Road to Space Runs through the Poles.

20260514 > FOXSI-5 > NASA > Blk Brant IX > PFRR AK

A NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range at 11:23 a.m. Thursday in a continuing mission that uses X-rays to study the sun.The NASA Black Brant IX rocket carried the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager to record large solar flares. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute owns Poker Flat, located at Mile 30 Steese Highway, and operates it under a contract with NASA.This mission, called FOXSI-5, is led by assistant research physicist Juan Camilo Buitrago-Casas of the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. Buitrago-Casas has been involved with three of the previous four FOXSI missions. This is his first as the lead scientist.

Geophysical Institute UAF: 20260515.

ISS Visiting Vehicles > Expedition 74 > Current Status

Progress 95 Cargo Craft Docks to Station: 20260428 NASA.

2026 Aпреля 28 > Стыковка грузового космического корабля «Прогресс МС-34» с МКС

 

Трансляция стыковки грузового корабля «Прогресс МС‑34» с МКС: Roscosmos TV.

20260425 > Прогресс МС-34 (95П) > Союз 2.1а > Роскосмос > РКК Энергия

Next Spaceflight: Progress MS-34. 

 

Трансляция стыковки грузового корабля «Прогресс МС‑34» с МКС : Roscosmos TV.

Progress MS-34 to resupply ISS: Russian Space Web.

Progress MS-34: Wikipedia.