Last year NASA bought the space mission equivalent of a lottery ticket, a small bet on a mission which has the odds stacked against it, but could be a win on many levels. This is the last TriStar, launching the last Pegasus, carrying a never before flown spacecraft that offers the Swift telescope’s last chance to avoid destruction.
NASA offered a small contract to attempt a mission to re-boost an old telescope which would otherwise burn up, $30million seemed too small, but Katalyst stepped up with work they’d already been doing on satellite servicing, and in the process they got a launch agreement to fly on the last Pegasus XL, which is carried by the worlds last TriStar jet.
This is a story that’s as dramatic as they come for spaceflight without humans involved.
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