For more than two decades, the Swift Observatory has watched the violent edges of the cosmos from low Earth orbit — far outlasting the two years it was built for. Now, as solar activity hastens its inevitable descent, a commercial spacecraft called LINK was meant to offer it more time, but developed its own ailment before it could help. In the late summer of 2026, NASA and Katalyst Space acknowledged that the boost would not happen, and that Swift would likely return to the atmosphere before the year is out — a quiet reminder that even our most enduring instruments must eventually yield to the