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The question and answer are both quite fascinating. But I think they hint at something potentially even more interesting: To figure out that they needed to co
by abstractbill 13y ago
The question and answer are both quite fascinating. But I think they hint at something potentially even more interesting: To figure out that they needed to coat visors with gold, without doing it by trial-and-error and frying a few retinas in the process, the level of planning and attention to detail in the early days of NASA must have been phenomenal. I'd love to know more about how they knew they had asked all the right questions.
- kens 13y agoIf you can dig up a copy of the 1962 book "Space Medicine" by U. Slager, it's really interesting. It makes you realize how many questions they needed to answer experimentally before going into space. For example, how much acceleration can someone withstand. How much vibration and tumbling. Minimum and maximum survivable temperatures. How long can you be exposed to a vacuum. This was the era of putting people on rocket sleds to see what happens ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp ). My favorite factoid from that book is that guppies can tolerate 10000G for 30 sec. It also describes a guy who survived 482 degrees F for 4 minutes.
- Keyframe 13y agoguy who survived 482 degrees F for 4 minutes Can you give some more details about this?
- kens 13y agoI messed up °F/°C and it was "only" 250°F. I don't have the book "Space Medicine" available, but I found a different reference† explaining that it was Dr. Charles Blagden and other researchers in 1774 who went into a room heated above 250°F and cooked steak and eggs in there, proving the importance of perspiration in maintaining body temperature. It has to be dry heat; if there is humidity, the tolerable temperature is much lower. The original paper ‡ is also online; in order to read it, note that "ſ" is a "long s", not a "f". † http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19560213&id=4VQaAAAAIBAJ&s http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19560213&id=4... ‡ http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/65/484.full.pdf+html http://rstl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/65/484.full.p...
- e12e 13y agoThat news.google-link appears to be broken?
- kens 13y agoI can't edit the expired link above, so search for "hot mutton cool magician" or try http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4VQaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZSUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3190%2C1843142 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4VQaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZSUEA...
- wazoox 13y agoFor people of the world, that's about 121°C. BTW, I've been in a sauna in Sweden where the thermometer displayed 100°C. The women sauna, according to my mother, was only 96°C.
- dbarlett 13y agoBehold the Bioastronautics Data Book [1], featuring sections like "Generation and Composition of Flatus" [2] and "Buttock Areas and Thigh Dimensions" [3] and captions that start "Data obtained on two subjects in ejection seat attached to arm of underwater centrifuge..." [4] [1] http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1973NASSP3006.....P http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1973NASSP3006.....P [2] https://secure.flickr.com/photos/40605738@N03/3737695623/in/set-72157621600710013 https://secure.flickr.com/photos/40605738@N03/3737695623/in/... [3] https://secure.flickr.com/photos/40605738@N03/3737695681/in/set-72157621600710013 https://secure.flickr.com/photos/40605738@N03/3737695681/in/... [4] http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1973NASSP3006.....P/0000027.000.html http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1973NASSP3006.....P...
- jevinskie 13y agoThey knew the blackbody radiation spectrum back then and had lux meters. I'm pretty sure this wasn't unexpected but still a nice engineering tale.
- jotm 13y agoWhy do you believe they didn't fry a few retinas? They could've used animals for experimentation - I'm sure a lot of rats and monkeys gave their lives for the goal...