Material transport in the lower thermosphere is of scientific interest. Transport is affected by interactions of the ionized layer with neutral particles. Nitric oxide (NOx) transport is modulated by plasma behavior (Knipp et al., 2017), and in turn, NOx modulates the warming and cooling rates. Material in the lower thermosphere, when transported, can manifest in the mesosphere as well, for example, in the formation of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) (Stevens et al., 2003).However, winds and transport in the lower thermosphere are challenging to investigate observationally. Larsen (2002) aggregated decades of chemical release experiments to show significant shear in the altitude range of 100-110 km. A unique opportunity to observe material transport in the lower thermosphere arose toward the end of the U.S. space shuttle program during which time a number of orbiting sensors were also operational. Shortly after launch, the shuttle would deposit about 350 tons of water vapor at about 100-115 km altitude, at an almost identical geographic location every time. This water vapor was then tracked by a combination of satellite and ground-based observations over subsequent days.Early work on shuttle plumes tied them to evidence of PMC formation (Stevens et al., 2003). Later Stevens et al. (2005 detected the photodissociated water vapor plume via Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite global ultraviolet imager (GUVI) Lyman-alpha observations and related it to PMCs in the Antarctic. Siskind et al. (2003) showed the water to be detectable in TIMED Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) water vapor measurements.