Get away special the low-cost route to orbit

NASA has established the Get Away Special (GAS) program as a means for providing anyone who wishes the opportunity to place a small self-contained experimental payload aboard a Space Shuttle mission for a very low cost. The GAS program is now well established, and has a respectable history with 53 payloads flown to date. The GAS experimenters are a diverse group who have demonstrated that people from all walks of life, and from many nations, are interested in working in space. This paper traces the history of the program from its concept through the development phase to the present time, and takes a brief look at the future. It also addresses the steps involved in making a payload reservation and the programmatic and technical relationships that are established between NASA and GAS customers.