The $30 million salvage operation gets underway as soon as this week with the planned launch of a robotic lifesaver.

NASA's daring Swift Boost mission launches June 27 to save the nearly 22-year-old Swift observatory , which is being dragged out of space by Earth's atmosphere.

NASA's Swift Observatory is in peril. A last minute mission to save it could make spaceflight history. Here's everything to know.

And the Hubble Space Telescope could be next

The Swift Observatory, launched in 2004, has been falling back to Earth due to recent higher-than-usual solar activity.