would've probably cost a bundle. That's assuming we even have TT&C ships and I'm not certain we do. Off hand, the closest thing that I can think of is an airplane used to support launches out of Vandenberg whose name I can't quite recall, something like ARIAS. Planes like that cost many thousands of dollars an hour to operate.

CONTOUR's entire cost was $159 million, so there just wasn't any money in the budget for it. I don't know if CONTOUR's TT&C subsystem was compatible with the Air Force Satellite Control Network. If it was, they might've been able to use the AFSCN station on Diego Garcia, but only if CONTOUR was in range during the burn.

Just as a guess, I speculate there was an insulation failure in the solid rocket motor that caused the engine to explode well into the burn, perhaps within seconds of shutdown. A propellant fracture would've caused an overpressure rupture much earlier in the burn. Based on the debris's position, it seems it burned for quite some time befor failing. Another possibility, although perhaps less likely, is that the vehicle's structure failed during the burn. That just doesn't happen very often.