 Columbia, Houston, we have a tally hole on LDF. Called the long-duration exposure facility, this 11-ton satellite had been in space for almost six years when a shuttle crew retrieved it and brought it safely back to Earth. After delivery to the Kennedy Space Center in several months of close inspection, LDF became an empty shell. Its 57 external experiments were shipped to scientists around the globe, including a group at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. The effects of long-term exposure to space can be seen in this materials and coatings experiment. According to Wayne Slamp, a senior engineer at Langley, the various colorations and strippings evident on the surfaces here were not present when LDF was put into orbit. In fact, the top of this panel looked exactly like its unexposed underside prior to the journey. The goal is to determine the significance of these changes so that future spacecraft and structures can be built with the best possible materials. Don Humes, a Langley Aerospace Technologist, had 22 aluminum panels positioned around LDF. Their mission was simple, be struck by micrometeoroids and other man-made debris. Understanding how many particles are out there where they are and what they're made of is critical in designing future protection for astronauts and spacecraft. Research scientist Gail Harvey is discovering that a thermal control paint used almost universally on spacecraft can contaminate optical materials. This unexpected brown staining will almost certainly result in an across-the-board change in surface coatings for space applications. Learning more about cosmic rays is the goal of an LDF experiment at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. According to physicist Jim Adams, cosmic rays are fast-moving particles that can penetrate human skin and disrupt on-board computers, another factor to be considered in developing future space hardware. Technologically, what will come out of LDF is a set of handbooks which will be the Bible for how a spacecraft are built for the next 20 or 30 years. I think it will be a very long time before there's an opportunity to fly such a large spacecraft for such a long time and learn so much about the effects of the space environment. More than 12 million tomato seeds carried on LDF have been distributed to students of all ages around the country. The majority of the plants eventually produce normal food and a second-generation plant. In addition to providing valuable information about the effects of space on living matter, the seeds project is designed to excite young people about science. The Long Duration Exposure Facility, six years of unparalleled information extending our future capabilities in space.