At NASA headquarters Dr. Lars Norstrom, a lean man with Viking-blond hair, greeted them warmly. “Thanks for coming on such short notice,” he told the Swifts as he shook hands. Dr. Norstrom, coordinator of the national space flight program, was an old friend of the Swifts.
“We’re happy you called on us,” said Mr. Swift. “This is Bud Barclay.”
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22 MEGASCOPE SPACE PROBER
Dr. Norstrom beamed at the young flier. “Delighted to meet you, Bud. We’re particularly eager to have you at this meeting.”
Bud and the Swifts were somewhat mystified at the man’s last remark but made no comment. Norstrom led them to a conference room. Another NASA official was there and two other men -John Clarke and Arnold Franklin, the president and the chief engineer of the Astro-Dynamics Corporation.
“We’ve met before, many times.” Clarke flashed a friendly smile as he and the Swifts shook hands. “Always a pleasure to see America’s greatest space pioneers again.”
Using chalk and a blackboard, Norstrom outlined the details of the planned Venus flight. Then he added, “We’ll be using an Astrodyne booster for the space vehicle.”
Tom was thunderstruck. The Astrodyne was a huge rocket manufactured by Astro-Dynamics. Though the rocket was well engineered, he considered it inferior in thrust and refinements to the Swifts’ rockets.
“Then the contract’s already been awarded?” Mr. Swift asked in surprise.
Norstrom nodded. “Yes. For various reasons we think the Astrodyne is the rocket for this particular job. We also like the space vehicle they’ve come up with.”
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