Astronaut Patrick G. Forrester works with the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) during extravehicular activity. The first MISSE experiment exposed 750 material samples to space from 2001 to 2005 to collect information on how different materials weather the space environment. The experiment was the first externally mounted experiment on the International Space Station. On May 18, 2014, the SpaceX Dragon returned the latest MISSE experiments, MISSE-8, to Earth. Materials scientists helped prepare samples for flight and will analyze the samples post-flight. Marshall worked with commercial companies and other government agencies to fly 96 experiment samples on MISSE-8, including thermal control coatings, heat shield materials, solar array materials and environmentally friendly spacecraft components, such as multi-layer insulation, paint markings, and innovative polymers.