RELEASE NO. 02-041

NOTE TO EDITORS:

MISSE-2 EXPOSES MATERIALS TO HARSH SPACE ENVIRONMENT
Astronauts at NASA Langley Research Center to Examine Hardware

The only way to test how materials will perform in space is to test them in space. Laboratories can only simulate one or two space environmental factors at a time.

When Shuttle Mission STS-114 lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in early 2003, it will carry the MISSE-2 payload. The Materials International Space Station Experiment consists of two "suitcases" full of materials that will undergo a three-year exposure test in space. The cases, called Passive Experiment Containers (PECs), will be clamped to the exterior of the International Space Station by astronauts Stephen Robinson and Soichi Noguchi during a spacewalk.