Plastic Makes Perfect?

I always knew plastic held promise beyond the six-pack holder and Tupperware, now they are beginning to think a new plastic recipe would be better suited for spaceship building than aluminum, currently the preferred material in use by NASA and most other spaceship designers.

Developed by NASA scientists, the new polymer (RXF1) promises to increase radiation protection by 50 percent, has 3x's the tensile strength of aluminum and yet is 2.6 times lighter.

I wish I could also report they are coating the underbelly of the Shuttle with it to prevent damage from scraps of foam breaking free during lift-off, but I can't. Perhaps future craft will be built of the stuff, but for now, the patent is still pending on RXF1.