We recently had the opportunity to interview individuals who conducted research, operated, or who served as research volunteers on the old Johnsville Centrifuge—aka the Dynamic Flight Simulator—which was located on the now closed Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.Why, you may ask, is Space 3D talking centrifuges? Well, there is a space connection! NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for training X-15, Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Apollo astronauts-- and a handful of Space Shuttle pilots!In the conclusion of our series on the Johnsville Centrifuge, we’ll discuss researcher gratitude for volunteers willing to endure some not-so-pleasant things while riding in the centrifuge. We’ll also discuss ensuring volunteer safety during acceleration exposures on the centrifuge, and we’ll round robin with funny stories recalled from working on the centrifuge research projects. Finally, we’ll briefly recall an interesting experiment on near-death experiences that made our interviewees TV stars in several documentaries.

We recently had the opportunity to interview individuals who conducted research, operated, or who served as research volunteers on the old Johnsville Centrifuge—aka the Dynamic Flight Simulator—which was located on the now closed Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.Why, you may ask, is Space 3D talking centrifuges? Well, there is a space connection! NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for training X-15, Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Apollo astronauts-- and a handful of Space Shuttle pilots!In Part 3 of our interview, we’ll continue our discussion on the Johnsville Centrifuge by delving into the work done with female test subjects to evaluate their G tolerance. Much of this work was done as a prerequisite to female jet pilots entering active duty. We’ll also discuss some other programs, including important work on validating instrumentation exposed to high G, verifying the feasibility of night vision goggle removal from pilots’ helmets prior to aircraft ejection, and creating and validating contingencies for pilots and copilots who entered into a flat-spin in the F-14 Tomcat. Then we’ll delve into how centrifuge test subjects were monitored (mostly non-invasively!), whether anyone got sick riding the centrifuge—and whether any deaths have occurred during centrifuge research through the years.

Welcome to Space 3D!We recently had the opportunity to interview individuals who conducted research, operated, or who served as research volunteers on the old Johnsville Centrifuge—aka the Dynamic Flight Simulator—which was located on the now closed Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.Why, you may ask, is Space 3D talking centrifuges? Well, there is a space connection! NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for training X-15, Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Apollo astronauts-- and a handful of Space Shuttle pilots!In Part 2 of our interview, human factors researcher Barry Shender will discuss what acceleration- or G- induced loss of consciousness is, what the human tolerance is to G before losing consciousness, and how it was measured in the Johnsville centrifuge. Once again, we’ll also hear some first-hand accounts of what it was like to experience G in the centrifuge from human research subjects Linda Lips and Steve Cloak. Finally, we’ll discuss some of the many research accomplishments that helped us to better understand the effects of acceleration on the human body – all of which were conducted at the Johnsville Centrifuge.

During our next few episodes to round out Season 5, we had the opportunity to interview individuals who conducted research, operated, or who served as research volunteers on the old Johnsville Centrifuge—aka the Dynamic Flight Simulator—which was located on the now closed Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.Why, you may ask, is Space 3D talking centrifuges? Well, there is a space connection! NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for training X-15, Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Apollo astronauts-- and a handful of Space Shuttle pilots!In Part 1 of our interview, we’ll hear from human factors researcher Barry Shender, who will provide a broad overview of the history of the Johnsville Centrifuge as well as the primary purpose for conducting acceleration work. Then, John Yannaccone will provide some additional background on the operation of the centrifuge and why it was built in Warminster, Pennsylvania. Then, we’ll hear from Steve Cloak, Linda Frattone, and Linda Lips on their experiences with riding the centrifuge as human research subjects.

Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview Rich Overbeck, who is currently wintering over at South Pole Station!As many of our listeners may know, expeditions to our planet’s polar regions are considered to be extreme environmental analogs, not unlike what would be encountered on the surface of Mars, for example. Indeed, as Rich will tell us, part of his motivation for wintering over in Antarctica was because it’s the closest he can come to traveling to Mars in this lifetime.This is part 3 and our conclusion of our conversation with Rich Overbeck. We’ll chat about astronaut visits to the Pole, whether missions have patches or service medals associated with them, searching for elusive Martian meteorites in the ice, and some surprisingly interesting “mundane” details regarding the water supply and dealing with waste disposal. We’ll conclude with Rich’s final thoughts on Antarctica and his time “on the ice.”This episode was recorded via Zoom on February 12, 2022. Rich will remain in Antarctica until November, 2022. By the time this episode goes live in late May 2022, Rich will experience full darkness, something which he has been eagerly anticipating because of the incredible views of the night sky that he will be able to enjoy.

Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview Rich Overbeck, who is currently wintering over at South Pole Station!As many of our listeners may know, expeditions to our planet’s polar regions are considered to be an extreme environmental analog not unlike what would be encountered on the surface of Mars, for example. Indeed, as Rich will tell us, part of his motivation for wintering over “on the ice” was because it’s the closest he can come to traveling to Mars in this lifetime.In Part 2 of our conversation with Rich Overbeck, we’ll explore more insights regarding life on the Ice, including the number of showers one is permitted to take weekly and what Rich likes to do during downtime. Then, we’ll explore some broader aspects of Ice Life, including whether there are animals at the South Pole, what storms are like, how COVID was prevented at the Pole, and the duration of time one is permitted to serve down there. We’ll also delve into what Rich looks most forward to when his time at the South Pole draws to a close.This episode was recorded via Zoom on February 12, 2022. Rich will remain in Antarctica until November, 2022.

Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview Rich Overbeck, who is currently wintering over at South Pole Station!As many of our listeners may know, expeditions to our planet’s polar regions are considered to be an extreme environmental analog not unlike what would be encountered on the surface of Mars, for example. Indeed, as Rich will tell us, part of his motivation for wintering over “on the ice” was because it’s the closest he can come to traveling to Mars in his lifetime.In Part 1 of our interview, we’ll get to know Rich and what it takes to qualify for supporting winter missions to the South Pole. We’ll learn about Rich’s typical day at the Pole, how long he’ll be down there, what the most challenging aspects of life at the Pole are for him and his fellow crewmates. We’ll also discuss what surprised Rich the most when he travelled there for the first time about twenty years ago. We’ll have the opportunity to dispel at least one myth about life at the Pole, and gain insight to a surprising benefit from hydroponics—aside from a supply of fresh greens-- that has never been mentioned by planetary scientists and researchers, to our knowledge.This episode was recorded via Zoom on February 12, 2022, so by the time this episode is posted in April, the pole is nearly enveloped in 24-hour darkness, something which Rich is actually looking forward to. As Rich says, the night sky… is just incredible.

Welcome to Space 3D!Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program.In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits.Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian.Join us in this podcast for the conclusion of our interview with Bill Ayrey. In this episode, we’ll hear about Bill’s experiences with trying on pressure suits over the years—including a certain Apollo astronaut’s training suit. We’ll also learn about ILC Dovers ongoing work with the Air Force to product aerostats. Finally, we’ll conclude with some reassurance from Bill that the ILC historical archives of the Apollo suits will be in good hands for perpetuity.

Welcome to Space 3D!Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program.In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Bill Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits.Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian.In part 3 of our interview with Bill Ayrey, we’ll start out with discussing the curiosity of Space Shuttle “rescue balls” and then explore some other interesting anecdotes- including assisting the sound engineer for the movie First Man to record actual sounds of an Apollo suit and his work assisting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum with preservation efforts for Neil Armstrong’s Apollo suit. We’ll conclude this episode by turning to Bill’s work on space suits at the close of his career with ILC Dover, with comments on where the future lies with new space suits, and what might be Elon Musk’s role in driving innovation in design.

Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program.In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits.Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian.Join cohosts Tom Hill and me, Eleanor O’Rangers, for part 2 of our interview with Bill Ayrey on the history of US spacesuits. In this episode, we’ll discuss how ILC tackled the development of the Apollo spacesuits with some particular emphasis on the special and indispensable role the seamstresses played in the creation of specialized equipment which never suffered a failure during the lunar program. Bill will also share some interesting anecdotes about the astronauts who visited ILC for suit fittings as well.