GLAST: The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope Mission

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, GLAST, is an observatory that will measure the cosmic gamma-ray flux in the energy range 20 MeV to $>$300 GeV, with supporting measurements for gamma-ray bursts from 10 keV to 25 MeV. With its launch now planned for May 2007, the Large Area Telescope on GLAST, with a factor of 40 or more improvement in sensitivity, large FOV, and much finer angular resolution compared to previous high-energy telescopes, will provide an important window on a wide variety of high energy phenomena, including black holes and active galactic nuclei; gamma-ray bursts; the origin of cosmic rays and supernova remnants; and searches for hypothetical new phenomena such as supersymmetric dark-matter annihilations and exotic relics from the Big Bang. This talk will provide an overview of telescope design and the science opportunities.