The tracking detector for the LAT science instrument on the GLAST mission is an example of a large-scale particle detection system built primarily by particle physicists for space flight within the context of a NASA program. The design and fabrication model in most ways reflected practice and experience from particle physics, but the quality assurance aspects were guided by NASA. Similarly, most of the electronics in the LAT as a whole were designed and built by staff at a particle physics lab. This paper reports on many of the challenges and lessons learned in the experience of designing and building the tracking detector and general LAT electronics for use in the NASA GLAST mission
