10.03.06



Marny Skora
757-864-3315

Keith Henry
757-864-6120, 344-7211 (mobile)

MEDIA ADVISORY: 06-065

SPACE STATION EXPERIMENTS MITIGATE RISK FOR FUTURE EXPLORATION



As Space Shuttle Atlantis separated from the International Space 
Station (ISS) last month, astronauts used the robot arm to scan the 
heat shield looking for signs of impact damage caused by small 
meteoroids or manmade orbital debris.



Bill Kinard has spent half a century defining the meteoroid and 
man-made debris environments in space to determine the effects they 
can have on operational spacecraft. He will discuss his work at a 
lecture Thursday, Oct. 5, at 2 p.m. in the NASA Langley Research 
Center Reid Conference Center. Kinard will give a similar briefing 
for the general public at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air & Space 
Center, downtown Hampton.



Media who wish to interview Kinard at a press briefing at 1:15 p.m. 
Thursday should contact Keith Henry at 864-6120 or 344-7211 (mobile) 
by noon for credentials and entry to the Center.



Kinard's most recent effort, called the Materials in Space 
International Space Station Experiments - or MISSEs - is providing 
the insight needed to develop materials for future spacecraft. 
STS-115 astronauts retrieved MISSE-5 that had been attached to the 
ISS for a year and returned the sample-filled suitcase to Earth when 
Atlantis landed.



Early in his career, Kinard conceived and was principal investigator 
for the Meteoroid Technology Satellite that first proved that the 
"Meteor Bumper Shield" is an effective concept to shield against 
impacting meteoroids and orbiting debris. Every large spacecraft 
since, including the ISS, has used multi-wall meteor bumpers to 
provide protection.



Kinard was also instrumental in the design and development of the Long 
Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) that obtained valuable information 
on the environments in near-Earth space. LDEF data is now regarded as 
the benchmark for environmental effects on spacecraft in low-Earth 
orbit.



A native of Ninety Six, S.C., Kinard graduated from Clemson College 
and served a two-year tour of duty in the Air Force attached to the 
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at the Langley 
Research Center. He remained at NACA, which became NASA in 1958, and 
after 50 years remains a NASA Langley employee.

	
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