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Medical Library
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1075
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in
History of Research
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Subgravity and
and Zero-g
at the
Air Force Missile Development Center
1948 -
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, NEW MEXICO
1958
Historical Division
Office of Information Services
Air Force Missile Development Center
Air Research and Development Command
Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
MEDICAL LIBRARY
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History of Research
in
SUBGRAVITY AND ZERO-G
at the
AIR FORCE MISSILE DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico
1948-1958
HISTORICAL BRANCH
OFFICE OF INFORMATION SERVICES
AIR FORCE MISSILE DEVELOPMENT CENTER
AIR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMAND
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
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Medical Library
RC
1075
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FOREWORD
Weightlessness, the weird condition of subgravity which
man had never before experienced and survived--except for the
initial split-second of short-distance free fall--has recently
become a major field of serious scientific research.
Man now
approaches this condition as his fast-climbing fighter flattens
out to intercept an enemy bomber, and he may soon experience
it for long duration on multimonth interplanetary excursions.
In recent years man has gone to considerable expense and
personal risk to fly Keplerian trajectories in high-performance
aircraft in order to experience a force of less than normal
gravity for fractions of a minute. Recently a Soviet satellite
exposed an animal subject to this condition for a period of
several days. Gradually a corpus of solid knowledge has
formed as a result of these dramatic experiments, and man will
go forth into space inhibited less by this psychophysical
phenomenon than would otherwise have been the case.
Much of the important basic research in subgravity and
zero-g has been performed by men of the Space Biology Branch of
the Aeromedical Field Laboratory at the Air Force Missile
Development Center. In the following monograph Dr. David
Bushnell, of the Center's Historical Office, has traced the history
of local contributions to this field of study. He has also
!
iii
:
placed this effort into the broader context of subgravity research
accomplished elsewhere, especially in the United States, Argentina
and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
This forms the third of a series of monographic studies by Dr.
Bushnell related to the historical evolution of space biology as
a field of study. It maintains the same rigorous professional
standards evident in both his Beginnings of Research in Space
Biology at the Air Force Missile Development Center, Holloman
Air Force Base, New Mexico, 1946 - 1952 and his Major Achievements
in Space Biology at the Air Force Missile Development Center
Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, 1953 - 1957, which were
published earlier this year. Three additional monographs con-
cerning contributions of the Aeromedical Field Laboratory are
scheduled for publication during the summer months of this year.
James Stephen Hanrahan
Center Historian
May 1958
History of Research
in
SUBGRAVITY AND ZERO-G
at the
AIR FORCE MISSILE DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico
1948-1958
RESEARCH IN SUBGRAVITY AND ZERO-G
1948 - 1958
Among the phenomena to be encountered in manned space flight
few if any have inspired as much scientific and popular specu-
lation as that of subgravity, including both pure weightlessness
or zero-gravity and the various fractional states that lie in
between zero-gravity and normal gravity conditions. In recent
years this has also been a subject of intensive research both in
the United States and abroad; and the Space Biology Branch of the
Aeromedical Field Laboratory, at the Air Force Missile Development
Center, is one of the agencies that have made significant contri-
butions to the research effort. This aspect of the Center's
human factors program is less well known than either the rocket-
sled experiments of Doctor (Colonel) John Paul Stapp or the
program of high-altitude balloon flights culminating in the
*
*
The term "subgravity" will normally be used in this study to
denote all states in which the gravitational force is less than
the normal one "g." "Weightlessness" is commonly used in the
very same broad sense, but can be confusing. The word literally
suggests a complete absence of weight, or zero-gravity, where as
the writer often is referring in fact to a small fractional
gravity state--"virtual" weightlessness as it is sometimes expressed.
2
record Man-High (II) ascent of 19-20 August 1957. Yet the
current program of subgravity research has roots at Holloman
Air Force Base that go back before the rocket track was even
built, and before the first balloon with biological payload
was launched.
Subgravity research as a clearly defined field of study
had its real beginning just after World War II. It has its
primary application in the field of ultimate space flight,
where gravitational attraction will still be present but will
be normally counterbalanced by other factors, rather than in
conventional aviation. Nevertheless, brief exposures to
subgravity can and do occur in aircraft flight, so that the
problem attracted some slight attention even earlier from
specialists in aviation medicine. Moreover, by the end of the
war a limited amount of subgravity experimentation had already
taken place.
About 1940, the German investigator Heinz von Diringshofen,
whose main work concerned human tolerance to multiple g-loads,
began exposing test subjects to a few seconds of subgravity
1
simply by putting an aircraft through a vertical dive. Later
during the war one other German scientist, Dr. Hubertus Strughold--
now at the School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Field, Texas--
staged a particularly memorable experiment to study human orien-
tation when deprived of gravitational cues from the external pressure.
3
sense. This is only one of the sense mechanisms that supply
information on bodily weight and direction, but it is important
in flying, where it is activated by the pressure of the aircraft
seat on a flier's skin and thus provides the familiar #seat-of-
the-pants sensation." In order to simulate a weightless
condition as far as this one sense is concerned, Strughold anes-
thetized his buttocks with novocaine. He then flew a series of
acrobatic maneuvers, and in his peculiar condition he found the
2
experience very disagreeable.
3
The early experiments of Von Diringshofen and Strughold did
not lead to any concerted or continuing program of subgravity
research in Germany. In the immediate post-war years German
scientists contributed some valuable theoretical studies relating
to subgravity, as did scientists in other European countries.
The first major landmark in actual subgravity experimentation,
however, was a series of high-altitude rocket flights with
animal subjects started in 1948 by the United States Air Force.
The agency immediately in charge was the Aero Medical Laboratory
at Wright Field, which then formed part of the Air Materiel
Command and which is now a unit of Wright Air Development Center.
The vehicle used at first was the German V-2 rocket, of which
large numbers had been captured and brought to White Sands
Proving Ground in south-central New Mexico to be used in high-
altitude research. No less than five V-2 animal flights were
f
4
launched from White Sands, and in each case the project obtained
a wide variety of support services from Holloman Air Force Base,
on the opposite side of the same Tularosa Basin. For all flights
except the very first, actual preparation of the nose cone inclu-
ding the animal capsule took place in Holloman laboratory
And when, in 1951, the Aero Medical Laboratory
began using the newly-developed Aerobee research rocket for its
experiments, launch operations as well were transferred entirely
to Holloman.
facilities.
The Aero Medical Laboratory's animal rocket flights were not
designed purely for subgravity studies. Their purpose was to
expose living subjects to as many as possible of the potential
hazards of space flight. In practice, however, a rocket trajectory
was too brief to obtain significant exposure to such hazards as
primary cosmic radiation, while fairly moderate g-forces were
involved both in rocket acceleration and in the opening shock of
the parachute recovery system that was designed to carry the
capsule safely back to earth. The far-reaching significance of
these flights lies rather in the exposure of animals to subgravity
lasting for as much as two or three minutes, during the period
of coasting and free fall from rocket burnout to the point
where the descending capsule again met appreciable atmospheric
drag. At that time, no other experimental method could come
close to providing as long an exposure. Moreover, for subgravity
5
research, unlike cosmic radiation studies, two or three minutes
was not too short a period for some disturbing symptoms to make
themselves felt, if in fact any were likely to occur.
The hero of the first animal rocket flight was a nine-pound
rhesus monkey named Albert. He was brought to New Mexico by a
team from the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright Field that
included Doctor (Captain and later Lieutenant Colonel) David G.
Simons, who now heads the Aeromedical Field Laboratory at Holloman.
Albert was carefully instrumented to record both heart and
respiratory action. On 18 June 1948 he was finally launched
toward space. Unfortunately, his brief trip in a V-2 to an
altitude of thirty-seven miles was plagued with a series of
operational failures, and no data were obtained. Neither did
Albert manage to get back alive: the parachute system failed.
A year later the Wright Field scientists, including Doctor
Simons, tried again. On 14 June 1949 Albert (II) reached an
altitude of about eighty-three miles. There was still no live
recovery, since the parachute system failed again. However
data were successfully recorded throughout the flight and indi-
cated that the second Albert suffered no serious ill effects
from weightlessness, cosmic radiation, or any other hazard of
space flight.
After two more monkey flights, of which one was marred by
unsatisfactory rocket performance and the other essentially
6
repeated the outcome of the Albert (II) flight, a mouse was
chosen as passenger in the fifth and last of the space biology
V-2's. The mouse was not instrumented for heart action or
breathing since this time the primary objective was to record
the conscious reactions of an animal under changing gravity
conditions. For this purpose the animal capsule was equipped
with a camera system to photograph the mouse at fixed intervals.
As usual, the recovery system failed--the mouse did not survive
impact. But photographic evidence showed that the mouse
retained "normal muscular coordination" throughout the subgravity
phase, even though he no longer had a preference for any
particular direction and was as much at ease when inverted as
when upright relative to the control starting position."4
With the first aeromedical Aerobee firing, on 18 April
1951 from Holloman Air Force Base, project scientists reverted
to the pattern of the V-2 monkey flights. The result was quite
familiar: physiological data on a monkey's breathing and heart
rates were successfully recorded, there was no sign of any
gross disturbance in the subject, and the parachute failed
again. Finally, with the second Aerobee animal flight of 20
September 1951, the long-awaited breakthrough in parachute
recovery was successfully accomplished. An instrumented monkey
was safely brought back from peak altitude of 236,000 feet, and
so was a grand total of eleven mice that had gone along with
7
him.
Successful recovery was again accomplished on the third
and last Aerobee flight of the series, which took place on 21
May 1952. All passengers--two monkeys and two mice--returned
safely to earth, and one of the monkeys is still alive and
healthy in a Washington, D. C., zoo.
Nine of the second Aerobee's mouse contingent served
primarily as cosmic radiation subjects, but all other mice, like
the mouse on the last V-2, were studied photographically for
their reactions during the subgravity state. One of these had
undergone a prior operation removing the vestibular apparatus of
the inner ear that is responsive to gravitational forces and
helps give both mice and human beings a sense of equilibrium.
The mouse was already accustomed to orient himself by vision
and touch exclusively and did not seem troubled by loss of
gravity during the flight. One of the three normal mice used
as subgravity test subjects was also free from any sign of
disorientation during exposure to subgravity, apparently because
it had a paddle to cling to and retained full possession of
tactile as well as visual references. But the two remaining
mice did show some signs of disorientation.
Since May 1952 there have been no more rocket experiments
with animal subjects either at Holloman Air Force Base or
elsewhere in the United States. For a few years, at least,
experiments of this type have become a monopoly of the Union
8
of Soviet Socialist Republics, where the first animal-carrying
rocket is said to have been launched in 1951. The Russians
preferred dogs as test subjects, and refrained from giving them
anesthesia before takeoff. They have also claimed that no dog
was ever lost through failure of his breathing equipment or
"effect of external factors," but they have not specified how
5
If United States
many may have been lost for other reasons.
experience is any guide, one is tempted to assume that the
Russians must regard parachute failure as an "internal" factor!
Be that as it may, the Russian methods and test results
generally resembled those of the earlier Air Force animal rocket
flights--until, of course, they used a rocket to place a dog in
orbit in November 1957.
From the standpoint of subgravity studies, the unique quality
of this last achievement was the length of the exposure obtained,
from the final rocket burnout until the death of Laika, the
satellite dog, roughly a week after launching. Technically speaking,
a minor limitation of this experiment was the presence of fractional
g-forces caused by the tumbling of the satellite vehicle. A
more obvious limitation for subgravity studies or any other
research objective was failure to bring back either the dog itself
6
or a photographic record for later study and observation.
According to results published so far concerning the
9
Russians' satellite experiment, the effects of rocket accele-
ration on Laika's heart beat, though tolerable, persisted much
longer after acceleration ceased than would have been the case
if recovery from the same high g-load had been made in a normal
one-g field. Russian scientists attributed this result directly
to the influence of a post-acceleration subgravity state.
However, there was still no sign of disabling ill effects on
the test subject as a result of subgravity exposure. The dog's
eyesight allegedly "compensated to a certain degree the distur-
bance of locomotive power" that was due to subgravity, although
under the conditions of the test it is hard to see how this
7
could be anything more than a reasonable hypothesis.
Even before the United States abandoned the field of animal
rocket experiments to the Russians, at least for the present,
scientists at different Air Force installations had branched
out into still another fruitful type of subgravity research,
using the airplane as test vehicle. In May 1950 two former
German scientists working at the School of Aviation Medicine,
Doctors Fritz and Heinz Haber, delivered a paper in which they
explained how to achieve over thirty seconds of subgravity in
aircraft flight. The method was to fly the plane in a para-
bolic arc or "Keplerian" trajectory in which centrifugal force
would exactly offset the downward pull of gravity and engine
thrust would counterbalance air friction. This was not an easy
10
thing to do, and even with an expert pilot at the controls one
could expect absolute weightlessness for only part of the total
subgravity trajectory. Nevertheless, the Habers' proposal
offered the first method for obtaining a really significant sub-
8
gravity exposure in manned flight.
During 1951 the new procedure was tested at Edwards Air Force
Base in California and at Wright Field in Ohio. At Edwards the
noted test pilot Scott Crossfield and the Air Force's Major Charles
E. Yeager both flew a number of Keplerian trajectories, the
former working on behalf of the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics. At Wright Field similar experiments were conducted
by Dr. E. R. Ballinger. Apparently none of these early experi-
ments achieved more than a few seconds, at most, of true zero-
gravity, but total subgravity trajectories were in reasonably
close accord with the Habers' predictions. Test results showed
a tendency for subjects to overreach with their arms during
subgravity. Symptoms of disorientation also appeared in some
cases but, on the whole, these flights indicated no major
difficulties in orientation as long as the subjects were firmly
୨
belted in and had full visual references.
This sudden burst of subgravity flights in the United
States was followed by a period of relative inactivity during
1952-1954. Meanwhile, related experiments were being conducted
during these same years in Argentina by the Austrian-born
11
scientist Dr. Harald J. A. von Beckh, who had left Germany for
Von Beckh introduced still
South America shortly after the war .
another animal to the menagerie of subgravity test subjects, the
South American water turtle. He had one turtle whose vestibular
function had been injured accidentally; and he found that this
turtle showed much better coordination and orientation during
an aircraft subgravity flight than his normal companions.
the mouse that had a special vestibular operation before going
up in the second aeromedical Aerobee, the turtle had apparently
learned to compensate visually for the lack of normal gravi-
tational cues. Even the normal turtles, however, gradually
improved their performance after a sufficient number of flights.
In his turtle experiments Von Beckh achieved subgravity
exposures up to seven seconds by means of vertical dives. Sub-
sequently he, too, adopted the parabolic flight pattern and
shifted from turtles to human subjects. The latter submitted
to a series of eye-hand coordination tests, in which they showed
the familiar tendency to overreach during subgravity but
resembled Von Beckh's turtles in their capacity to improve with
later flights. Von Beckh was also much interested to observe
that when the plane entered its subgravity arc by a maneuver
causing high acceleration forces, the recovery from acceleration-
induced blackout took appreciably longer than usual. In a sense
this foreshadowed the experience of the Russian satellite dog,
11
Like
10
12
and suggested a special topic for further experimentation.
However, Von Beckh cut short his stay in Argentina to take a
position in the United States with the Human Factors Division
of the Martin Company. Later still, in January 1958, he
joined the staff of the Air Force Missile Development Center's
Aeromedical Field Laboratory. There he assumed direction of
the present subgravity program, which had been started--perhaps
it would be better to say reactivated--in 1954.
Later Subgravity Studies at Holloman, 1954 - 1958
The sum total of subgravity research accomplished prior
to 1954 still was not great, but it allowed certain tentative
conclusions to be drawn. There seemed to be no major respiratory
or circulatory hazards resulting from weightlessness, although
Dr. David G. Simons at Holloman carefully pointed out that
respiratory and circulatory complications might arise as a
secondary effect of "emotional and autonomic reactions [which
are] essentially the same whether caused by weightlessness, a
rough sea, or an obnoxious mother-in-law." Simons generalized
further, on the basis of studies up to and including Von Beckh's,
that subgravity should normally produce "minimal discoordination
and no disorientation...as long as the subject retains tactile
and visual references."
#12
L.
13
What was needed now was a much greater accumulation of
detailed test data to verify or revise preliminary conclusions
and to reveal still other possible effects of subgravity.
Better test instrumentation was also needed, especially to
record all the variations of gravity force from true zero-
gravity up to a normal one-g state. This would be of great
help to any pilot attempting to fly a subgravity trajectory.
In addition, most suggestions for future space stations have
provided for some form of rotation in order to avoid absolute
weightlessness, through the artificial creation of a centrifugal
force, but nobody knew exactly how many hundredths of a g must
be generated to produce what results. It might also turn out
that no rotation at all is needed; but in any case there was
an urgent requirement for research data on this and other
13
ramifications of the subgravity question,
By the same token, there was ample reason to establish a
formal subgravity program at Holloman within the framework of
the Space Biology Branch of the Aeromedical Field Laboratory.
Unlike the earlier V-2 and Aerobee flights, the present program
is part of the Center's own project workload. The Aeromedical
Field Laboratory had been founded in 1951 as a field station
for project scientists operating from the Aero Medical Laboratory
at Wright Field, but in January 1953 it became a function of
the local Center (then known as Holloman Air Development
14
Center), and in October 1953 subgravity studies were specifically
included in the Holloman laboratory's mission. In the following
year, 1954, work on subgravity actually got underway as Task
78501 of the newly-created Project 7851, Human Factors of Space
Flight. Doctor (at that time Major) David G. Simons was project
officer of Project 7851, as well as head of the laboratory's
Space Biology Branch. Technical Sergeant John T. Conniff was the
14
original task scientist for Task 78501, Subgravity Studies.
For some time, with funds and manpower both limited, the
main task activity consisted of planning and preparations for
an ultimate test program. Sergeant Conniff's subgravity duties
were not so engrossing as to prevent him from continuing as
15
head of the laboratory's Electronics Unit; indeed the latter
position was presumably of advantage to him in collecting
instrumentation for the subgravity program. Nevertheless, a
preliminary aircraft flight took place at least as early as
September 1954, using a T-33, to evaluate some of the problems
involved in flying a parabolic subgravity trajectory. More
flights were made early the following year with an F-89, again
16
mostly for evaluating techniques and instrumentation.
The program was not really intensified until after the
assignment of Captain Grover J. D. Schock as task scientist
on 1 July 1955. Captain Schock--whose contributions to sub-
gravity research later qualified him as the first known
C
15
scientist to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree in space
physiology--initiated subgravity flights in an F-94C aircraft
in the fall of 1955, using himself as one of various test
subjects. The F-94C became the standard test vehicle for sub-
gravity research, and Task 78501 remained the primary duty of
Captain Schock until the beginning of 1958, when Dr. Von Beckh
took over as task scientist. Captain Schock then branched
out into other lines of activity for the Aeromedical Field
Laboratory, but without abandoning his previous interest and
participation in the subgravity program. Moreover, he kept
one special foothold as task scientist for Task 78530,
Psychophysiology of Weightlessness. This was a task of the
recently-established Project 7857, Research in Space Bio-
Sciences. It is not concerned with the aircraft subgravity
flights at Holloman, but with certain research to be done by
outside investigators on a contract basis as well as a limited
17
amount of "in-house" effort.
The F-94C flights, which have been the primary activity
of Task 78501, are capable of giving subgravity trajectories
of more than thirty seconds in duration; and more than one
such trajectory or "run" can be scheduled on a single flight.
The amount of actual zero-gravity is always considerably
less, although the exposures have increased steadily. Early
in 1958 the maximum zero-gravity obtainable in a test
16
trajectory was about twenty-two seconds, and even this exposure
was not continuous but was interrupted by momentary lapses into
some minute fraction of positive or negative g-force. Neverthe-
less, the period was long enough for many types of experimentation,
and it compared favorably indeed with the two or three seconds
of true weightlessness achieved on some of the very earliest
18
parabolic test flights.
This advance is of course due to improvements both in flight
techniques and in test instrumentation. One item of instru-
mentation still in use when Captain Schock joined the program
was a golf ball dangling on a string from the aircraft canopy--a
gadget that accurately showed when pure weightlessness had
been achieved but could not measure degrees of subgravity. The
standard aircraft g-meter was not very satisfactory, either,
for instrumenting subgravity flights. However, Captain Schock
devoted a major part of his attention to the instrumentation
problem. More precise methods have since been devised, using
a combination of differently-placed accelerometers. Information
on the exact g-forces being experienced is constantly relayed to
the aircraft pilot by two sensitive micro ammeters installed in
his field of vision, and the same information is carefully
synchronized with a film record of the test subject's reactions.
Unfortunately, the subgravity program was also afflicted with
more than its share of aircraft trouble. Apart from normal
19
17
maintenance problems, the F-94C aircraft used in the program
developed such special troubles during subgravity flights as
loss of oil pressure, loss of hydraulic fluid, and "sticking"
of the trim tab motor. These difficulties, as well as the
presence of extra equipment mounted inside the aircraft, caused
a good bit of worry to flying safety and maintenance officers,
and required suspension of tests on several occasions. But in
the end all the difficulties were shown to be of little
importance or else were corrected. Both Lockheed, the aircraft
manufacturer, and Pratt-Whitney, the engine manufacturer, were
extremely helpful in finding solutions. Moreover, the diffi-
culties over hydraulic fluid and oil pressure suggested some
profitable investigations on the behavior of fluids under
subgravity conditions, shaking them or forcing them from a
20
squeeze bottle in subgravity flight.
Still another problem that arose was that standard micro-
phones in the F-94 (and earlier in the F-89) were unable to
transmit clear messages between pilot and test subject during
subgravity. This led to research on the problem and instal-
lation of a more satisfactory type of microphone. As a result,
Captain Schock is now able to conclude, "Voice communications
21
in future space vehicles should present no problem."
It is worth noting that so many materiel problems of
subgravity flight were discovered in the course of human factors
--
18
research. Nevertheless, the main interest of the subgravity
program does not lie in the effects of subgravity on aircraft
parts and equipment but in the reactions of human test subjects.
And it is well to note, first of all, that not all human subjects
reacted the same way. Some have positively enjoyed the gravity-
free state, while others have on occasion felt extreme motion
sickness with nausea and vomiting. Among the former can be
included Sergeant Conniff, the original task scientist, and
Captain Druey P. Parks, who has participated in this as in all
other programs of the Space Biology Branch. Among those who
have suffered varying amounts of discomfort, Captain Schock
definitely includes himself. It is perhaps significant that
one who professes no distaste for subgravity is Captain Joseph
W. Kittinger, Jr., better known as the test pilot for the
Man-High (I) balloon flight, who piloted a great many subgravity
trajectories at Holloman before his recent transfer to Wright
Air Development Center. In his case it is likely that a broad
previous flying career helped prepare him for the experience,
although no number of flying hours is any guarantee in itself
22
against feeling ill at ease during a subgravity exposure.
The apparent existence of wide variations in human tolerance
suggests that one criterion for selection of crews in space
travel may well be a comparison of monitored responses during
experimental subgravity exposures. However, still more
19
information is needed on these varying personal sensations. The
sickness felt by some may be related to the rapidly changing
g-forces encountered in a complete test flight, including the
high acceleration and deceleration that sometimes mark the
plane's entry to and exit from the subgravity parabola. In
that case the same symptoms might not be associated with long-
duration, continuous subgravity exposures. On the other hand,
those who easily endure thirty seconds of subgravity might
conceivably do less well with a three-minute--or three-month--
dose of the same thing. Laika's experience is encouraging in:
this respect, but hardly conclusive.
The Holloman subgravity flights have also featured a
variety of sensomotor performance tests. These indicate that
subgravity need not seriously impair a subject's ability to
touch his nose with his finger tip, mark x's in a row of
squares, or perform other similar operations--provided always
that he retains a visual frame of reference, and provided also,
of course, that he has not first become violently ill with
motion sickness. This conclusion closely parallels those
tentatively drawn from the earlier test programs of Ballinger,
Von Beckh and others. Neither does eating peanut brittle
offer major problems during weightless trajectory, as long as
the food is first well masticated and then forced to the back
of the mouth where the swallowing reflex goes into action
20
without regard to gravity. Drinking seems to require use of
squeeze bottle, cups and glasses being quite useless during
weightlessness. Water must be forced to the back of the mouth
23
by the tongue, but again the swallowing reflex is unimpaired.
A somewhat different variety of experiment has demonstrated
that human subjects, deprived of normal visual references, will
perceive oculogravic illusions such as "apparent linear motion
of a fixed 'target' during a ballistic [Keplerian] trajectory."
For these tests both the subject's head and the "target"--a small
luminous cross--were placed under a large and ominous-looking
black hood. However, the illusion occurred mainly during the
periods of increased g-forces on entering and leaving the
subgravity parabola; it did not occur during the weightless phase
itself, except for certain oscillations of the target attributed
to the plane's failure to maintain an even weightless state.
Hence the illusion would seem to be a result of linear accele-
ration and deceleration, rather than a necessary condition of
24
weightlessness.
When Dr. Von Beckh joined the Holloman program, he brought
with him as a carryover from his work in Argentina a special
interest in the effects of subgravity on ease of recovery from
acceleration-induced blackout or greyout. At Holloman he has
initiated flights designed to produce subgravity either just
after or just before exposure to a force of roughly four g's,
21
with a peak of five or six. This procedure duplicates the type
of conditions to be met in take-off and re-entry of manned
space vehicles.
The test series has only recently started, but
when further advanced it should yield important research data.
25
Nor have animal subjects been forgotten in the Holloman test
flights. The current pet of subgravity research--at least in the
Free World--is the familiar cat, which is of interest for its
highly developed vestibular function. It is actually more reliant
on this function for balance and orientation than are human beings.
The cat is also noted for its reflex ability to land squarely on
all fours even after being dropped upside down, and tests were con-
ducted to determine how this righting reflex operates during sub-
gravity. Judging by the test results, it does not work very well.
In order to examine the matter more closely, Captain Schock obtained
certain cats that had undergone operations removing the vestibular
apparatus wholly or partially. When these cats were tested in the
same manner, it appeared that animals still having even partial
vestibular function were confused. On the other hand, animals
wholly deprived of this function and accustomed to do without it
remained fully oriented and in possession of normal reflex responses
unless their eyes were covered. This last observation confirmed
once again the critical importance of visual orientation.
26
Although the test program has centered primarily around
subgravity trajectories flown in jet aircraft, other tests
22
have been performed in simulated subgravity conditions at ground
level. Some of the reactions of a human subject immersed in
water are similar to those encountered in a subgravity state; for
instance, external pressure on the skin is so evenly distributed
around the body surface when under water that this pressure is
perceptible barely if at all, just as in a weightless condition.
Accordingly, in the spring of 1957 Captain Schock staged a
series of experiments at the indoor pool of the El Paso Young
Men's Christian Association, with the subject on a rotating seat
in eight feet of water and blindfolded. Later in the same year
underwater experiments were conducted in the pool of the New
Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped in Alamogordo. Such
tests have demonstrated an impairment of orientation somewhat
like that experienced in aircraft experiments where the subject
lacks normal visual cues. In one type of underwater experiment,
subjects were tilted as much as twenty-two degrees before
perceiving the tilt. The underwater tests have also made a
definite contribution to the methodology of subgravity research,
and offer the advantage of more prolonged exposure to test
27
conditions than a comparable aircraft trajectory.
The Aeromedical Field Laboratory has worked in close
cooperation not merely with the owners of indoor pools but also
with Air Force and private researchers interested in subgravity
studies. The School of Aviation Medicine, in particular, has
ין
23
been conducting an active subgravity program at Randolph Air
Force Base, Texas. Under the principal direction of Dr. Siegfried
J. Gerathewohl, this program in its present form dates from
1955; it, too, has been centered around subgravity test parabolas
flown in jet aircraft. The general categories of testing and
research have been much the same as in the Holloman program, but
in some respects work at Randolph has pointed the way while in
other respects--notably instrumentation--the Holloman program has
been generally more advanced. Fortunately, there has been little
if any sign of the rivalry that has sometimes marred relationships
between research programs of the Aeromedical Field Laboratory and
related efforts of the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright Field.
There has in fact been a mutually profitable exchange of data
and ideas, and though a spokesman for the School of Aviation
Medicine has admitted that some overlapping research effort exists
in subgravity studies he went on to explain that this was actually
"necessary because of the importance of the role that subgravity
28
states will play in the immediate future."
In addition to the current subgravity flights at Holloman
and Randolph Field, there is at least one more active program of
a similar nature now going on. It is in Soviet Russia, and
though the Russians do not seem to have publicized aircraft
subgravity flights to the same extent as their animal rocket
experiments, they claim to have exposed human subjects to about
24
the same period of weightlessness--forty seconds--that has been
achieved by similar research in the United States.
There has been no direct exchange of information between
Holloman and Soviet researchers in this field. However, the
cooperation of various outside institutions in the United States
has been enlisted for the Holloman subgravity program on a
contract basis. Researchers at the University of Illinois
assisted Captain Schock's study of the vestibular mechanism in
cats, performing the special vestibular operations on cats used
in Holloman subgravity flights. They have also been working on
techniques for attaching a recording device directly to the
vestibular portion of the eighth cranial nerve. The Yellow
Springs Instrument Company developed an airborne galvanic
skin resistance meter, to permit continuous recording of
resistance to electric impulses under stress in subgravity
experiments. This instrument is at present being fitted at
Holloman with the necessary in-flight recording apparatus.
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories, finally, made a theoretical
study under contract of animal experiments that might be performed
both in test vehicles now available for subgravity research and
studies later on.
in more advanced vehicles that may become available for such
Additional contracts related to subgravity
research have recently been initiated; the efforts mentioned,
however, antedate the launching of even the first Russian
29
25
30
available.
satellite, and have been substantially or wholly completed.
The same Russian satellite hastened the end of an Air
Force-wide austerity drive that was unleashed in the first
quarter of fiscal year 1958 and which unfortunately had admini-
stered a temporary setback to the Holloman subgravity program.
The Air Force Missile Development Center was ordered to slash
expenditures, and research projects generally had to suffer
more than missile development. Subgravity studies suffered
more than most: a directive issued on 27 August 1957 ordered
"cessation of work effective immediately. The "cessation"
was soon clarified to refer only to work that cost money, such
as the F-940 flights, which were calculated to use up sixty-three
dollars an hour in operating expense without counting maintenance
and overhead. Captain Schock in his official role as task
scientist could still go swimming, and could plan and theorize
to his heart's content. His specially-treated cats arrived
from the University of Illinois right in the middle of the
austerity drive, but he was able to toss them up and down in
the laboratory, taking observations on how they fell; these
observations could be compared later with the results of in-
flight experiments, as soon as an aircraft was again made
31
Subgravity contracts outstanding were scaled down slightly
at the same time, but this occurred under a command-wide order
26
for five percent reduction in expenditure on effort-type
contracts. All Center research programs were similarly affected,
and the impact on subgravity studies was barely noticeable
compared with the suspension of F-94C flights. Moreover, on
1 October 1957 austerity was relaxed by Center decision to the
point of authorizing a small number of test flights, for the
specific purpose of having the cats flown at last.
Later still,
with the appearance of the Russian satellites, austerity was
abandoned altogether. By the start of 1958 the subgravity
program was back in full swing, although time lost could never
32
be wholly regained.
The Present Outlook for Experimentation
in Subgravity Conditions
In the spring of 1958 Captain Schock put forward a
"philosophy of weightlessness research" in the following terms:
33
To date investigations of the biological effects
of weightlessness have been confined almost entirely
to observations on the effects of weightlessness on
orientation and coordination of animal and human
subjects. There is a definite need for this type of
research. However, only short periods of weightless-
ness have been obtained in jet flights and rocket
flights. The use of Ballistic Missiles and Bio-
Satellites affords a chance for experimentation
into the effects of prolonged weightlessness.
Using these methods, biological research should
be channelled away from an observation experimentation
to a [more strictly] experimental approach.
Specifically, investigations should be undertaken
into recording the effects of weightlessness on
the utricular mechanism, possible loss of reflexes,
and greatly enlarged recordings of physiological
data when these parameters are controlled by the
autonomic nervous systems. The effects of
prolonged sensory deprivation--and true weightless-
ness can be considered a sensory-starved environment--
must be energetically investigated. The use of water
or other appropriately diluted solutions affords an
excellent method of investigating the effects of
sensory deprivation.
The psychology of exposure to weightlessness
has been little investigated. Past research has
attempted to record incidences of "motion sickness"
without really tying down the etiology. Perhaps
this is autonomically controlled, but perhaps it
is psychologically induced.
20
The effects of pre-weightlessness accelerations
and post-weightlessness accelerations have been
little considered in the past. The profile of a
Bio-Satellite launching reveals that immediately
after burnout any biological system in the nose
cone is subjected to weightlessness immediately
after a rather large acceleration. What the
consequences of this may be is unknown. Conversely
during re-entry the effects of high accelerations
subsequent to prolonged exposure to weightlessness
are purely conjectural. Simulating these conditions
is difficult using either the centrifuge or
deceleration tracks. It is in these problem areas
that future zero gravity research must be directed.
Subgravity studies at the Aeromedical Field Laboratory are
at present attempting to meet many of the objectives stated by
Captain Schock. As indicated above, pre- and post-weightlessness
accelerations are the subject of a series of test flights being
conducted by Dr. Von Beckh. Similarly, in order to continue
study of the effects of sensory deprivation" on a body under
water, the laboratory is preparing a small tank or pool of its
#
28
This facility will measure just twelve feet wide by
twelve feet deep and will be equipped for heating; thus the
water can be maintained at skin temperature, the better to
34
produce "a sensory-starved environment."
own.
But there is also a definite need for more advanced
test vehicles. The F-94C still has not outlived its usefulness;
nevertheless, substantially longer intervals of subgravity
could be achieved either in century-series fighters or in
certain types of missiles. One obvious step would be to
progress from the F-94 to the F-100, which has been the
standard chase aircraft on the Holloman range since 1956.
In fact plans already exist to use this aircraft type in the
subgravity program. But the two-seat F-100F, which would be
required for the test flights, is in rather short supply. The
first one reached Holloman only in the fall of 1957, with
photographic chase as its primary mission, and because of
modifications needed for subgravity work none has been made
35
available as yet for subgravity studies.
For animal experiments the Aerobee is again a possibility,
offering up to three and a half minutes of subgravity, although
a later model would be involved than the one used previously
for biological research at Holloman. Better still would be
a long-range ballistic missile, but the "ultimate" test
vehicle for subgravity research with either animal or human
29
subjects is the biological satellite. Only the satellite can
provide a test environment that is truly "space-equivalent" in
duration of exposure as well as in the mere presence of
36
weightlessness.
Naturally, any test program involving intermediate or
intercontinental ballistic missiles or satellite vehicles must
involve more than one research organization. In any program
of this sort, however, the Aeromedical Field Laboratory can be
expected to take part. There is currently an "in-house"
effort under Captain Schock directed toward the use of ballistic
missiles in aeromedical research. Similarly, the laboratory's
present chief, Doctor (Lieutenant Colonel) David G. Simons, is
head of the interservice Biosatellite Coordinating Committee.
Several other members of the laboratory staff, including Captain
Schock, belong to the same committee, and Captain Schock is
currently devoting much of his time to this work. Among other
things, he is initiating a series of research contracts between
the Air Force Missile Development Center and outside scientists
in support of the biosatellite program. One such contract, for
example, will be designed to provide a satellite experiment on
possible degeneration of muscle tone in animals as a result of
37
prolonged exposure to weightlessness,
There are, of course, more reasons than a background in
subgravity studies for the prominent role of the Aeromedical
30
Field Laboratory in biosatellite planning. The Holloman
laboratory has also been engaged in active research (as in
Project Man-High) on sealed cabin environment and on recovery
of biological capsules. In all these fields it has much to
contribute toward a successful biosatellite program and toward
man's ultimate conquest of space. Its contributions moreover,
will be the fitting culmination of a record of achievement that
began in 1948 when Holloman Air Force Base provided essential
support to the very first United States experiments in weightless-
ness and space biology.
31
1.
2.
3.
40
6.
7.
8.
9.
NOTES
10.
Interview, Dr. Harald J. A. von Beckh, Task Scientist,
Subgravity Studies, Aeromedical Field Laboratory, by Dr.
David Bushnell, AFMDC Historian, 17 February 1958.
5.
A. Blagonravov, article in Vestnik Akademii Nauk SSSR
June 1957, summarized in Air Intelligence Information
Report IR-6440-57, 19 August 1957; Prof. Pokorovski
[sic], Study of the Vital Activity of Animals During
Rocket Flights into the Upper Atmosphere (Library
Translation No. 625, Royal Aircraft Establishment,
Farnborough, January 1957).
Grover J. D. Schock, Sensory Reactions Related to
Weightlessness and Their Implications to Space Flight
(AFMDC Technical Report 58-6, February 1958), pp. 2-3.
A more detailed account of these flights, as well as the
sources of information used, will be found in The
Beginnings of Research in Space Biology at the Air Force
Missile Development Center, Holloman Air Force Base, New
Mexico, 1946-1952 (AFMDC Historical Division, January
1958).
Quoted from James P. Henry, et al., "Animal Studies of
the Subgravity State during Rocket Flight," Journal of
Aviation Medicine, Vol. 23, p. 428 (October 1952).
Interview, Capt. Grover J. D. Schock, Asst. Chief, Space
Biology Branch, Aeromedical Field Laboratory, by Dr.
Bushnell, 19 May 1958.
New York Times, 12 January and 2 May 1958.
Fritz Haber and Heinz Haber, "Possible Methods of
Producing the Gravity-Free State for Medical Research,' N
Journal of Aviation Medicine, Vol. 21, pp. 395-400 (1950).
Brig. Gen. Edward J. Kendricks, et al., Medical Problems
of Space Flight (special report, USAF School of Aviation
Medicine, Randolph Field, August 1955), p. 18.
Harald J. A. von Beckh, Fisiologia del Vuelo (Buenos
32
11.
12.
13.
E
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Aires, 1955), pp. 103-107, and "Experiments with Animals
and Human Subjects under Sub and Zero Gravity Conditions.
Journal of Aviation Medicine, Vol. 25, pp. 235-241 (June
1954).
Ibid.
David G. Simons, "Review of Biological Effects of Subgravity
and Weightlessness," Jet Propulsion, May 1955, pp. 210-211.
Cf. Management Report (ARDC Form 111), Human Factors of
Space Flight, 24 January 1956.
Beginnings of Research in Space Biology, pp. 22-23; R & D
Project Card (DD Form 613), Human Factors of Space Flight
12 October 1954; Historical Branch, AFMDC, manuscript in
preparation on administrative factors and problems involved
in research.
For an example of his other work, see Lt. Druey P. Parks,
T/Sgt. John T. Conniff, and A/2c John A. Goldsmith, Ground-
to-Air Operation of Aero Medical Field Laboratory VHF
Handi-Talkie (HADC Technical Note 55-1).
Project 7851, "Monthly Historical Report," 8 October 1954,
and Weekly Test Status Report, 22 February, 1 and 8 March
1955%
Management Report, Human Factors of Space Flight, 1 October
1955; Holloman Rocketeer, 24 January 1958; Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...l January through 31
March 1958, p. 9; Test Report on Sub-Gravity Studies,
Number 1, 11 October 1955; interview, Capt. Schock by Dr.
Bushnell, 19 May 1958.
89
Schock, Test Report on Subgravity Studies, Number 5, 30
July 1957; Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957;
interview, Capt. Grover J. D. Schock by Dr. Bushnell, 12
May 1958.
Grover J. D. Schock and David G. Simons, A Technique for
Instrumenting Subgravity Flights (AFMDC Technical Note
58-4, February 1958).
Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957; Schock,
Test Report on Subgravity Studies, Number 1, 11 October
1955, and Number 2, 24 February 1956.
#
33
21. Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957.
22. Interview, Capt. Schock by Dr. Bushnell, 5 December 1957;
interview, Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., Flight Test
Division, AFMDC, by Dr. Bushnell, 12 December 1957;
R & D Project Card, Human Factors of Space Flight, 19
September 1957, p. 7; Management Report, Task 78501, 28
October 1957.
23. Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957; Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...l January through 31
March 1958, p. 6.
??
24. Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957; Grover
J. D. Schock, Apparent Motion of a Fixed Luminous Target
During Subgravity Trajectories. (AFMDC Technical Note
58-3, February 1958).
25. Von Beckh, briefing of AFMDC staff, 22 April 1958.
26. Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957; Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...1 October through 31
December 1957, p. 11.
27. Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957; Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...l April through 30
June 1957, p. 9; interview, Capt. Schock by Dr. Bushnell,
17 October 1957; Grover J. D. Schock, Sensory Reactions
Related to Weightlessness,p.7.
89
19
28. 1st ind., Lt. Roy E. Johnston, Asst. Adjutant, Hq., School
of Aviation Medicine, 21 March 1956, to basic ltr., DCS/
Operations, Hq., HADC, subj.: "Transmittal of ARDC Form
111; continuation sheet 6 of RDB Project Card, Human Factors
of Space Flight, 6 May 1954; Management Report, Human
Factors of Space Flight, 24 January 1956; Siegfried J.
Gerathewohl, et al., Producing the Weightless State in Jet
Aircraft (School of Aviation Medicine Report 57-143,
August 1957); School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph AFB,
Historical Report, Vol. 21, pp. 18-19 (1 July-31 December
1955), Vol. 22, pp. 36-37 (1 January-30 June 1956), Vol.
23, pp. 31-32 (1 July-31 December 1956), Vol. 24, pp.
100-101 (1 January-30 June 1957), and Vol. 25, p. 54
(1 July 31 December 1957).
29. Baltimore Sun, 14 January 1958.
34
09
30. Management Report, Task 78501, 28 October 1957; Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...l July through 30
September 1957, p. 19, and "Historical Data...1 January
through 31 March 1958, pp. 7-8; interviews, Capt. Schock
by Dr. Bushnell, 5 December 1957 and 15 May 1958.
08
31.
DF, Col. Richard C. Gibson, DCS/Operations, HADC, to
Directorate of R & D, subj.: "Cessation of Work Under
Task No. 78501...," 27 August 1957; Historical Branch,
AFMDC, "The Effect of Fiscal Year 1958 Expenditure
Limitations At Air Force Missile Development Center:
Preliminary Report," 22 October 1957.
11
32. Historical Branch, "Effect of Fiscal Year 1958 Expenditure
Limitations; Aeromedical Field Laboratory, "Historical
Data...1 October through 31 December 1957, 18 p. 11;
interview, Capt. Schack by Dr. Bushnell, 5 December 1957.
340
33. Disposition Form, Capt. Schock to Dr. [James S.] Hanrahan
and Dr. Bushnell, subj.: "Philosophy of Weightlessness
Research," 13 May 1958.
37.
Aeromedical Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...l January
through 31 March 1958, p. 7.
35. Historical Branch, History of Flight Support, Holloman Air
Development Center, 1946-1957, pp. 55-57, 60; interview,
Capt. Jack H. Patterson, Aircraft Allocations Officer,
AFMDC, by Dr. Bushnell, 18 December 1957; interview, Capt.
Schock by Dr. Bushnell, 19 May 1958.
36. Management Report, Human Factors of Space Flight, 1 October
1955; R & D Project Card, Human Factors of Space Flight,
19 September 1957 (with annexes); interview, Capt. Schock
by Dr. Bushnell, 19 May 1958.
88
Aeromedical Field Laboratory, "Historical Data...l January
through 31 March 1958, pp. 8-9; interview, Capt. Schock
by Dr. Bushnell, 19 May 1958.
AFB
AFMDC
ARDC
DCS/
DE
DE
HADC
HAFB
Hq.
Ind.
Ltr.
R & D
RDB
.
Subj.
USAF
WADC
1
GLOSSARY
Air Force Base
Air Force Missile Development Center
Air Research and Development Command
Deputy Chief of Staff for
Department of Defense
Disposition Form
Holloman Air Development Center
(redesignated Air Force Missile
Development Center as of 1 September
1957)
Holloman Air Force Base
Headquarters
Indorsement
Letter
Research and Development
Research and Development Board
Subject
United States Air Force
Wright Air Development Center, Wright-
Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
1.
Acceleration, physiological
effects, 2, 4, 9, 11, 19-21,
27
Aerobee research rocket, 49 65
7, 11, 13, 28
INDEX
Aeromedical Field Laboratory,
AFMDC, 1, 5, 12-15, 22, 27,
29, 30; relationship with
other research centers, 13,
23, 24; test facilities,
27, 28
Aero Medical Laboratory, WADC,
3-5, 13, 23
Aircraft, used in subgravity
research, 2, 3, 9-11, 13-
26, 28; maintenance and
performance difficulties,
17
Air Force, United States. See
Austerity drive, and sepa-
rate units and installations.
Air Force Missile Development
Center: and Air Force
austerity drive, 25, 26;
human factors program, 1,
30. See also Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, Holloman
Air Force Base, Subgravity.
Air Materiel Command, 3
Air Research and Development
Command, 25
Alamogordo, N. Mex., 22
Albert (I) and (II), test
subjects, 5, 6
Animal experimentation, 3-9, 11
21, 23-26, 28, 29
Argentina, subgravity research,
10-12, 20
Armed services, cooperation in
space biology research, 29
Austerity drive, Air Force-wide
25, 26
Ballinger, Dr. E. R., subgravit;
investigator, 10, 19
Ballistic missiles, as biolog-
ical research vehicles, 26,
28, 29
Balloons, 1, 2, 18
Biosatellite Coordinating
Committee, 29
Biosatellites: planning for,
United States, 26, 27, 29,
30; Russian (Sputnik II),
8, 9, 11
Capsules, for biological re-
search, 4, 6, 8, 30
Cats, 21, 24-26
Communications, in subgravity
and space flight, 17
Conniff, T. Sgt. John T., Task
Scientist, Subgravity Studie:
14, 18
Contracts, research, 15, 2*
26, 29
37
Coordination problems, sub-
gravity, 6, 10-12, 19, 20,
26. See also Reflex
responses.
Cornell Aeronautical Labora-
tories, 24
Cosmic radiation studies, 4, 5,
7
Crew selection, for space
travel, 18
Crossfield, Mr. Scott, test
pilot, 10
Deceleration, physiological
effects, 19-21. See also
Acceleration.
Dogs, 8, 9, 11
Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.,
10
Electronics Unit, Aeromedical
Field Laboratory, AFMDC, 14
El Paso, Texas, 22
F-89 aircraft, 14, 17
F-94C aircraft, 15, 17-26, 28
F-100 aircraft, F-100F, 28
Fluids, behavior in subgravity,
17, 20
Flying safety, 17
G-forces:
artificial, in pro-
posed space stations, 13.
See also Acceleration,
Subgravity.
Galvanic skin resistance meter,
24
Gerathewohl, Dr. Siegfried J.,
School of Aviation Medicine,
Randolph AFB, Texas, 23
Germany, subgravity research,
2, 3
Haber, Dr. Fritz, at School of
Aviation Medicine, 9, 10
Haber, Dr. Heinz, at School of
Aviation Medicine, 9, 10
Heart action, and subgravity
research, 5, 6, 9, 12. See
also Acceleration.
Holloman Air Development
Center, 13. See Air Force
Missile Development Center.
Holloman Air Force Base, N.
Mex. See Air Force Missile
Development Center, Sub-
gravity.
Holloman-White Sands Inte-
grated Range, 28
Human Factors Division,
Martin Company, 12
Human Factors of Space Flight,
Project 7851, 14
Instrumentation, for subgravity
research, 5-8, 13, 14, 16,
17, 23, 24
"Keplerian" trajectory: de-
fined, 9; used in subgravity
research, see Aircraft.
38
Kittinger, Capt. Joseph W., Jr.,
Flight Test Division, AFMDC,
18
Laika, satellite dog, 8, 9, 11,
19
Lockheed Aircraft Company, 17
Maintenance, aircraft, 17, 25
Man-High project, 2, 18, 30
Martin Company, 12
Mice, 6, 7, 11
Microphones, aircraft, 17
Missiles, use in research.
See Ballistic missiles,
Rocket experiments.
Monkeys, 5-7
Motion sickness, 18, 19, 27.
See also Orientation.
Muscle-tone degeneration, 29
National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics, 10
New Mexico School for the
Visually Handicapped, Alamo-
gordo, N. Mex., 22
Oculogravic illusion, 20
Orientation problems, in sub-
gravity, 2, 6, 7, 9-12,
18-22, 26, 27
Parachute recovery, 4-8
Parks, Capt. Druey P., Space
Biology Branch, Aeromedical
CURS
Field Laboratory, AFMDC, 18
Pools, for subgravity research,
22, 27, 28
Pratt and Whitney, division of
United Aircraft Corporation,
17
Pressure sense, and subgravity,
2, 3, 22
Project Man-High, 2, 18, 30
Project 7851, Human Factors
of Space Flight, 14
Project 7857, Research in
Space Bio-Sciences, 15
Psychological factors, impor-
tance stressed, 27
Psychophysiology of Weightless-
ness, task of Project 7857,
15
Randolph Air Force Base
(Randolph Field), Texas, 2,
23. See also School of
Aviation Medicine.
Range, Holloman-White Sands,
28
Recovery, of biological cap-
sules, 4-8, 30
Re-entry, 21, 27
Reflex responses, in sub-
gravity research, 19-21,
25, 27
Research in Space Bio-Sciences,
Project 7857, 15
39
Respiratory effects, of sub-
gravity, 5, 6, 12
Righting reflex, in cats, 21,
25
Rocket experiments, for sub-
gravity research, 3-9, 23, 26.
See also Aerobee, V-2.
Russia. See Soviet Union.
Satellite vehicles:
Russian,
8, 9, 11, 25, 26. See also
Biosatellites, Space stations.
Schock, Capt. (Dr.) Grover J. D.,
Asst. Chief, Space Biology
Branch, Aeromedical Field
Laboratory, AFMDC, 14-18,
21, 22, 24-27, 29
School of Aviation Medicine,
Randolph AFB, Texas, 2, 99
22, 23
Sealed cabin environment, 30.
See also Capsules.
Sensomotor performance tests.
See Coordination.
Sensory deprivation, 27, 28.
See also Simulation of sub-
gravity states.
Simons, Dr. (Lt. Col.) David G.,
Chief, Aeromedical Field
Laboratory, AFMDC, 5, 12,
14, 29
Simulation of subgravity
states, 3, 22, 25, 27, 28
South American water turtle.
See Turtles.
Soviet Union: subgravity
research, 7-9, 11, 23, 24
See also Satellites.
Space Biology Branch, Aero-
medical Field Laboratory,
AFMDC, 1, 13, 14, 18
Space stations, proposed, 13.
See also Satellite vehicles.
Stapp, Dr. (Col.) John Paul,
Chief, Aeromedical Field
Laboratory, AFMDC (until
April 1958), 1
Strughold, Dr. Hubertus,
School of Aviation Medi-
cine, Randolph AFB, Texas,
2-3
AFMDC
ૐ
Subgravity Research:
(HAFB), 2, 4-7, 12-30;
Argentina, 10-12, 20;
Germany, 2, 3; other United
States, 3-6, 9, 10, 22-24,
29, 30; Soviet Union, 8, 9,
11, 23, 24
Subgravity Studies, task of
Project 7851. See Task
78501.
Swallowing reflex, 19, 20
T-33 aircraft, 14
Task 78501, Subgravity Studies,
14, 15, 18, 25. See also
Subgravity research, AFMDC.
Task 78530, Psychophysiology
of Weightlessness, 15
Track, high-speed, AFMDC, 2
40
Tularosa Basin, N. Mex., 4
Turtles, 11
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics. See Soviet Union.
University of Illinois, 24, 25
Utricular mechanism. See
Vestibular function.
V-2 research rocket, 3, 5-7,
13
Vestibular function, 7, 11,
21, 24, 27
Visual cues, in subgravity.
See Orientation.
Von Beckh, Dr. Harald J. A.,
subgravity task scientist,
Aeromedical Field Labora-
tory, AFMDC, 11, 12, 15,
19, 20, 27
Von Diringshofen, Heinz,
German investigator, 2, 3
Water experiments, for simu-
lation of subgravity, 22,
25, 27, 28
Weightlessness. See Sub-
gravity.
White Sands Proving Ground,
N. Mex., 3-5
10
World War II, research during,
29 3
Wright Air Development Center,
3, 18
Wright Field (Wright-Patterson
I
Air Force Base), Ohio, 3, 5,
10, 13, 23
Yeager, Maj. Charles E., USAF,
10
Young Men's Christian Associ-
ation, El Paso, Texas, 22
Yellow Springs Instrument
Company, 24
Zero-gravity. See Subgravity.
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