Space Report: India’s First Private Launch and SpaceX’s Engine Milestone

In January, I shared a list of the ten most anticipated rocket launches and landings scheduled for 2026. I also provided my personal estimates regarding the likelihood of each event occurring before the year ended. Now, halfway through the year, only one mission from that list has been completed. That event was NASA’s Artemis II mission, which successfully launched in April. Many other missions have been pushed to next year. This pattern highlights a constant reality in the space industry: delays are very common. However, a few projects, such as the launch of NASA’s Roman Space Telescope, appear to be on track to happen soon.

A pioneering commercial mission to repair a NASA satellite has successfully reached space. The Swift Boost Mission launched early Friday after previous attempts were cancelled due to bad weather and technical issues. The mission used a Link servicing satellite developed by Katalyst Space Technologies. This satellite rode on top of a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket. The rocket was dropped from the belly of a modified L-1011 jetliner over the Pacific Ocean.

Launch managers had to call off two attempts earlier in the week. Poor weather around Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands prevented the jetliner from staging. On Thursday, a technical issue with the rocket temporarily stopped teams from deploying it after takeoff. Despite these hurdles, the mission finally proceeded.

This flight marked the last scheduled launch of the air-launched Pegasus rocket. The Pegasus was very successful in the 1990s and 2000s for launching small satellites for NASA and the US military. However, its use has declined because cheaper commercial options like SpaceX and Rocket Lab have become popular. Once in orbit, Katalyst’s Link satellite will spend several weeks approaching the Swift observatory. The Swift telescope, launched in 2004, is losing altitude because of atmospheric drag. It will likely burn up in the atmosphere later this year. Swift was never designed to be fixed in space. The Link mission aims to raise its orbit and extend its life.