Glass in space

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans a space test of a special type of fused silica glass made by Corning Inc., which manufactures the material at its Goose Creek plant and elsewhere.

The NASA glass experiment will be conducted on the International Space Station, according to Corning. The test is of the long-term stability and durability of a variety of materials for future space launches.

The company said it has provided the window glass for every manned space launch of NASA, as well as all of the glass for the space station.

The glass, attached Aug. 16, will remain exposed for 18 months. The samples then will be retrieved and analyzed.

Corning manufactures fused silica glass in Canton, N.Y., and Goose Creek and optical grade fluoride crystals in North Brookfield, Mass.