The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3, the spacecraft which was launched by NASA 36 years ago and was abandoned by the world's premier agency in 1997 is finally heading back home from the graveyard of space.

Some civilians who have urged NASA to bring the spacecraft back. The civilians have collected some money to own this antique spacecraft.

"We call ourselves techno-archaeologists," said Dennis Wingo, an engineer and entrepreneur who keeps on taking out miracles from space antiques that are abandoned by NASA.

Wingo has set up a company called Skycorp. The Mission Control for the ISEE-3 Reboot Project is located in Building 596. Wingo decided to take up this project since NASA has left it in the lurch.

"No one else was going to do it," he said, "and it seemed like the right thing to do."

Wingo and his friends started the race to revive ISEE-3 in April. In May, the team used the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Puerto Rico to establish contact with the spacecraft. Wingo said that Skycorp is the only private organization which has earned the reputation to command a spacecraft outside the orbit of the Earth.

Wingo has expressed confidence that the team would be able to fire the engines within weeks. The ISEE-3 was launched in 1978 when Jimmy Carter was the president of the US.