The Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) was a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

experiment that began on May 19, 1996, consisting of an inflatable antenna made of

mylar BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aro ...

which was launched from the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

'' Endeavour'' during the 1996

STS-77 STS-77 was the 77th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th mission of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission began from launch pad 39B from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 19 May 1996 lasting 10 days and 40 minutes and completing 161 revolut ...

mission, in cooperation with the satellite Spartan-207. The antenna correctly inflated, separating from Spartan-207, before re-entering Earth's

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

a few days later, on 22 May. IAE was intended to pave the way for the development of lightweight inflatable structures for space applications. The IAE was constructed by

LGarde LGarde, also L'Garde or L·Garde, is an American aerospace and defense technology company founded in 1971 in Orange County, CA and is the primary contractor for the Sunjammer spacecraft, the world largest solar sail. The company was an early ...

, Inc., an American aerospace company based in Orange County, CA.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1996 NASA satellites Antennas Space science experiments Spacecraft launched in 1996