NASA's Project Hail Mary - Last Minute, High Risk, High Reward Rescue Mission [13:20]

YouTube ^ | June 4, 2026 | Scott Manley

[SunkenCiv]

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. 

NASA's Project Hail Mary - Last Minute, High Risk, High Reward Rescue Mission | 13:20 
Scott Manley | 1.86M subscribers | 169,286 views | June 4, 2026

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TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: antonioelias; astronomy; burtrutan; katalyst; nasa; pegasusxl; scaledcomposites; science; swifttelescope; tristar

[SunkenCiv]

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai *may* follow.

[SunkenCiv]

Get on yer bad motor scooter...

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

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[Red Badger]

SWIFT TELESCOPE RESCUE MISSION PING!....................

[null and void]

Excellent read/listen!

[Islander7]

Thanks for the post. Sounds like the old NASA spirit is reawakening, if but for a moment.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, and private enterprise taking on a dominant role.

[ckilmer]

the guy in charge at nasa was hand picked by musk. musk doesn’t choose flunkies. he chooses people who perform and perform well.

the new guy is bringing it for NASA.

Of course if your time frame is decades—then yes there will be ebb and flow. Right now its all flow.

[NorthMountain]

private enterprise taking on a dominant role.

As always ... from its inception, NASA has been in close partnership with its contractors, and literally never got off the ground without them.

[married21]

I was delighted by the movie Project Hail Mary. Definitely glad to have seen it on the big screen.

[SunkenCiv]

Right, exactly. Same goes for WWII. And the money it takes doesn’t get loaded on the rocket and sent into space, it all stays here.