Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

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First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
With the angles we were using, we found that even lying down at 16 g’s,
it took just about every bit of strength and technique you could muster to retain
consciousness. We found there was quite a bit more technique involved in taking
this kind of g than we had thought. Our tolerances from beginning to end of runs
during the period we worked up there went up considerably as we developed our
own technique for taking this high g. A few runs a day like that can really get to you.
Some other stuff we did up there involved what we call tumble runs or [2] going
from a +g in 2 seconds to a –g and the most we did on this was in going from a +9g
to a –9g. Obviously, a delta of 18. This was using pretty much a standard old A/N
seat belt, shoulder harness type restraint system that we have used in Beechcraft for
many years. When we first talked about doing this, I didn’t think it would be possible
at all, but in doing a careful build-up, we happily discovered that this was not so
horrible. At +9g to –9g, we were bouncing around a bit but it was quite tolerable.
I guess one of the most interesting aspects of the program has been in
some of the people we have been fortunate enough to meet and be briefed by.
One of the best in this series was the time we spent at Huntsville, Alabama, with
Dr. Wernher von Braun and crew. We were fortunate enough to spend an evening
with him in his home until about 2:30 in the morning going through a scrap
book, etc., from Peenemunde days in Germany and, in general, shooting the bull
about his thoughts on the past, present, and future of space activities. This was a
real experience for a bunch of country boys fresh caught on the program and a
very heady experience as you can imagine.
We have had a good run-down at Cape Canaveral and got to see one of
their shots. I guess that is one of the most dramatic things I have ever seen. The
whole procedure they go through for a night launch at the Cape is just naturally
a dramatic picture far better than anything Hollywood could stage. When the Big
Bird finally leaves the pad, it doesn’t have to be hammed up to be impressive.
Much of our work, of course, has involved engineering work on the capsule
and systems. My particular specialty area has been the cockpit layout and
instrumentation presentation for the Astronauts. This has been extremely interesting
because we are working on an area way out in left field where our ideas are
as good as any one else’s. So, you try to take the best of your past experiences
and launch from there with any new ideas you can contrive. This is the kind of
development work, as you well know, that is by far the most enjoyable.
We just finished an interesting activity out at Edwards Air Force Base
doing some weightless flying in the F-100. This was in the two-place F-100 so that
we could ride in the rear seat and try various things such as eating and drinking
and mechanical procedures while going through the approximately 60-second
ballistic parabola that you make with the TF-100. That started at about 40,000
feet, 30 degree dive to 25,000, picking up about 1.3 to 1.4 Mach number, pull out
and get headed up hill again at 25,000 and about a 50 to 60 degree climb angle, at
which point they get a zero-g parabola over the top to about 60 degrees down hill.
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