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[i]Riding the slide wires has its own risks — ones serious enough that during the abort simulations NASA fills the baskets with weights and dummies rather than people. But the agency has man-rated the system. George Hoggard, a training officer on the pad rescue team, is one of only three people who have ever ridden in a slide-wire basket at the launch pad. The ride began 195 feet above the ground and ended 21 seconds later. The basket reached 53 mph before striking the net. The only part of the ride Hoggard found unnerving came near the end, when the basket slapped the restraining net with a bang. "It was like a shotgun going off," Hoggard says. "But nothing hurt, so I figured I was still okay." The net and drag chain broke free from their poles, as they were designed to do, and the chain dragged through sand to bring the basket to a gradual stop.[/i]
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