The need for lightweight ultra-strong structural materials is increasingly being recognized for the next generation of space vehicles for deep-space human travel. To fulfill this need, significant focus has been placed on carbon nanotube (CNT) based composites materials . These materials have the potential to exhibit superior thermo-mechanical properties relative to the current state-of-the-art composites . So far, a major shortcoming of these materials is their failure to translate these outstanding properties to higher length scales. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate and mitigate the failure of the CNT/matrix interfacial region to fully utilize the benefits of these materials.