"A New Human Experience"

What will the first Mercury Astronaut feel, see and hear? Last week an eloquent forecast came from Navy Captain Norman Barr, veteran flight surgeon and pilot (12,500 hours), who helped set the physical requirements for the space-bound seven. Said Dr. Barr to the American Academy of General Practice in San Francisco:

Man's first trip into space will be a new human experience, to be highly desired by courageous and adventurous men, but fraught with hardships, difficulties and danger.

His difficulties will begin with the rocket launching. The acceleration pressure of 8 g. [eight times gravity's pull] will make breathing difficult. His respiratory muscles will strain to overcome the crushing force, and breathing will become irregular. The heart will double its normal rate. The instruments before his eyes fade from view in a brown haze. The feet and arms are now difficult to move because they are eight times heavier than normal. Consciousness clouds, and for a moment he will wait in heavy, silent oppression. Weightless World. Then his body will become suddenly light, as the rocket burns out at last, and he commences the fall toward the center of the earth that will continue for 4^ hours. He will have dropped, as if over a precipice, into a still and weightless world. He will feel no motion. He will not rock and sway. He will only fall. He will be gravity-free. If he moves an extremity, he will find that it will remain placed where he put it. He will find comfort in stretching his arm to one side and leaving it there. Soon after entry into the gravity-free state, his vision will return. His respiration will become steady and slow. His heart will still run fast from the excitement, but he will not be uncomfortable, not even afraid. He may wonder if this uncontrollable thing may suddenly and prematurely rush him back to earth again.

Bright spots of sunshine outline the ports on the cabin wall and floor. But outside of these spots of light, there is darkness in the cabin. If he moves his hand away from this shaft of light, it becomes invisible in the darkness. There is a sharp demarcation between light and darkness in space. Peering down through the earth's milky cloud veil, he will recognize continents and oceans, even make out objects one-sixth of a mile long or wide [e.g., the Pentagon].

Total Darkness. Soon the satellite will go over the horizon from the sun and plunge into total darkness. There is no twilight in space--only sunlight and darkness. All about him will be a black emptiness and silence.

Small movements in the cockpit will make magnified sounds. The friction of his clothing as he moves sounds as if the cloth is tearing. He will be alone to an unprecedented degree in unfathomable isolation and in a state of dismal loneliness, where he and all of his perceptions are isolated from all things common to man's past experience.

Big Question. Then, as quickly as it went away, the peculiar daylight of space will return. Again there will be no twilight, just darkness--then light in the space cabin. And then, just before he completes the first orbit, a query will come from earth: Is the physical condition of the vehicle and his physiological condition adequate for another or possibly two more orbits? He will have to search the ship, his body, and his soul for the correct answer to this question. No doubt he will have every indication that his ship is adequate. He will know little about his physical state. His heart he hears as it pounds in his ears, and he will feel grateful for this. The question from the ground will give him more information about his physiological condition than he has had up until now.

He knows that his body responses will be measured on the earth below. Physicians will be hearing the sounds of his heart, the sounds of his breathing, watching the electrical activity of his heart and muscles and taking his temperature and blood pressure, all by remote control and radio link. He may feel less sure in his mind as to the state of his psychological being. The curious finger of fate has pointed him out to be hurled into space to make the supreme test as to whether man can function and survive space travel. He has been chosen as the one single sample from all the billions of men that populate the earth to test for the first time man's ability to go out among the stars. To fail this test would be to fail all mankind. Yes--he will go around again and again.

Floating Fall. The next two orbits will be much like the first in their geometrical form, but the Astronaut will be changing. He will be becoming a more experienced man. No longer will he be so concerned for his safety. He will have more time for introspection. He will observe with more acuity, more conscious of the degree and meaning of his perceptions. The tremor of his voice and its high-pitched quality will disappear. Uncertainties will remain, but he will be able to view them with almost complete objectivity.

Then finally, before the last orbit is finished, a signal will come from the ground which will determine whether the vehicle is pointing correctly stern-first so the Astronaut can take the deceleration of re-entry with his back to the force. Following that, another signal from the ground will cause his small retrorockets to fire, thereby reducing the speed and causing the vehicle to plunge. It will crash into the earth's atmosphere like a stone into water, creating a sudden shock to both vehicle and man. The forward parts of the vehicle will be heated to an extremely high level. The heat will not reach the man, protected by a heat shield.

As speed is arrested by the friction of the air, a small parachute will come out; finally a large chute will deploy and float the man in his capsule. Slowly, he will descend at about 30 ft. per second until he is let down, almost gently, in the Gulf of Mexico. There he will be rescued by a waiting ship of the U.S. Navy and brought back--a hero.

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