So they saved the cost of paying Japan to launch one more HTV mission, and all it’s going to cost is whatever this guy receives? It just seems out of character for NASA to leave things to chance like that.
I assume JAXA ordered a fixed number of HTVs, those were built and then the construction line was closed down, probably before 2018. Just ordering another one was probably not possible.
So they saved the cost of paying Japan to launch one more HTV mission, and all it’s going to cost is whatever this guy receives? It just seems out of character for NASA to leave things to chance like that.
I assume JAXA ordered a fixed number of HTVs, those were built and then the construction line was closed down, probably before 2018. Just ordering another one was probably not possible.