Robert.King@p2.f7.n391.z8.fidonet.org (Robert King) (07/25/90)
In a message to All <24 Jul 90 20:05:00> Alfred J. Broderick wrote: AJ> From: broderic@remus.rutgers.edu (Alfred J. Broderick) AJ> Date: 24 Jul 90 06:02:22 GMT AJ> Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. AJ> Message-ID: <Jul.24.02.02.22.1990.22224@remus.rutgers.edu> AJ> Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle AJ> (Sorry, this has nothing to do with the shuttle, but I thought you AJ> guys would know something about this...) AJ> In a recent computer magazine AJ> advertisement there is a picture that looks AJ> a lot like a rocket sled experiment. The advertisement consists of AJ> three AJ> still photographs. In the first photo there is the face of a very clean AJ> cut looking white male, possibly in his AJ> early thirties, wearing some black AJ> eye protectors. In the second picture his face is disfigured and in AJ> the AJ> last photo his face is very stretched AJ> and compressed generally all messed AJ> up. AJ> Does anyone know what was happening in this photo? (If I had a AJ> scanner I AJ> would post a bitmap for you.) I want to know if the man in the photo AJ> survived this experience okay. When and why did the even take place? AJ> Were the eye protectors added tothe photograph by an artist of did the AJ> man really wear them in the experiment? (I think they look fake.) AJ> If it is a picture of a rocket sled experiment, is there a book that has AJ> more information on such experiments? If these are the photos I recall seeing, the man pictured in Major Paul(?) Stapp, USAF. The pictures were taken by a camera on the sled he rode on the test track at Holloman AFB, NM. My recollection dates this effort to the late forties or early fifties. Major Stapp did survive the run at near-Mach or or faster velocities. However, I believe he did suffer detached retinas due to the high deceleration G forces encountered during braking (which accomplished by a projection on the bottom of the sled being dipped into a pool of water between the rails as it approached the end of the track.) The distortions of his face were due to the combined effects of acceleration and high velocity wind blast. Robert King -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- N.W. Arkansas' UUCP to FidoNet Connection. If you are interested in connecting up Contact Kenneth Whelan. Addresses postmaster@palace or at 1:391/9(Fido) 97.6 % of All Statistics are Made UP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------