^* Monetary matters are rather beyond the scope of this story, except that, to this day, employees of the shamed company insist that corners cut because of a lack of money were a principal cause of the mistakes made. NASA was uncertain that the firm could do the job for 70 million, but agreed to the lowball offer—the firm underbid Kodak, for instance, by a stunning 35 million—and winked at the arrangement, saying they could wheedle any additional funds from Congress later. Yet, later, Congress balked, and Perkin-Elmer had to try to make the mirror with the money it had, and of which it had demanded so little for the sole purpose of winning the contract and so enhancing its reputation. As we now know, exactly the opposite happened: the firm’s reputation was left in tatters, and it had to pay NASA a hefty sum in compensation for its incompetence. It has changed ownership twice, and is now part of United Technologies.