Did anyone ever see the LDEF, Long Duration Exposure Facility? That was a large cylinder with flat end caps and samples of materials on the sides. Did it flare? I've seen photos ... I don't remember the scale, but I thought it was 5-10 m long. It was meant to test the effect of the LEO environment (atomic oxygen etc.) on materials. It was put up shortly before the Challenger disaster into LEO. It was only meant to be up there about a year, but it stayed up almost 6, before the Shuttle finally went up again & got it. (1985-1991?) By the time they could retrieve it, I think it was only a few months from decay. Best, Mark