Georgia-Pacific highlights its innovation legacy with NASA and marks the 40th anniversary of the first paper produced in space

Georgia-Pacific revisited a significant milestone in its innovation history as it participated in the first experiment to produce paper sheets in space, conducted aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia in January 1986. This unique achievement set a precedent for the industry and became a symbol of the collaborative potential between students, scientists and the industrial sector.

Three years before the flight, Daniel Hebert, a student at Appleton West High School in Appleton, Wisconsin, designed an experiment to explore how microgravity affects the paper-making process. His proposal was selected by NASA as part of the Student Space Shuttle Participation Project for High Schools.

After the proposal was accepted, Hebert worked closely with scientists at the former Neenah Technical Center (NTC), operated at the time by James River Corporation. Today, this center is part of Georgia-Pacific’s consumer products division and remains based in Neenah, Wisconsin. Together, the student and the scientific team developed a portable device capable of producing paper under microgravity conditions.

 

The experiment was conducted simultaneously on January 14, 1986: one portion aboard Columbia, orbiting 340 kilometers above Earth, and the other at the NTC facility on the ground. The project became a notable example of cross-sector collaboration, combining educational creativity with technical expertise.

Over the past year, Georgia-Pacific has led research and preservation initiatives to recover and document the history of this experiment. These efforts included interviews with five individuals involved in the original project and the collection of primary archival materials, such as the actual device that flew on the shuttle, paper sheets produced during the experiment, early sketches and engineering drawings.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the experiment in January 2026, a special exhibition will be held at the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton. Visitors will be able to view the unique device that produced paper in space, along with other significant artifacts related to the collaboration. The exhibition aims to highlight bold and unlikely ideas while honoring the enduring contributions of the Appleton community to scientific discovery, both historically and today.