posted 02-07-2006 06:21 PM               

Now I read something about a breathing technique Dynamically Pioneered by the father of a certain poster here. (I'm not using any names because I don't want to involve her mother, a woman named "Rene".)

posted 02-08-2006 01:54 PM               

Makes sense to use the power of the diaphragm to counteract g forces.

I don't know what, if any, effect the Carpenter grunt had on repelling any alien invasions or flying saucers, though.

And I don't know if the technique is still in use today.

posted 02-08-2006 02:32 PM               

Maybe some of the Astronauts who read this forum - in camera, of course - could say if the CG is still in use?

posted 02-10-2006 04:00 PM            

Just picked up "For Spacious Skies," as I systematically work my way through every
M-G-A astro biography out there. Just got up to where you were born!

I must say it's an EXTREMELY enjoyable read. And a great pleasure to actually have (one of) the author(s) right here on board with us.

posted 02-10-2006 04:18 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Duke Of URL:
Maybe some of the Astronauts who read this forum - in camera, of course - could say if the CG is still in use?

---

Do you mean in training or on spaceflights? If I recall correctly (and someone else please chime in), they haven't used centrifuges in training for a long, long time.

posted 02-10-2006 06:23 PM               

Wow! Thanks for the hugely appreciated words.

posted 02-10-2006 07:03 PM               

Did the other Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts use the CG?

It reminds me of the technique I use to slow down a tachycardia episode.

The show was the usual Flying Saucer flapdoodle. The idea was that, given the enormous speeds and abrupt manouvers - 90 degree turns etc - any occupants of Flying Saucers would be turned into little bitty Alien meat balls without some sort of anti-gravity device.

I scoffed. Having ridden in a car driven through Paris by an Italian woman I can tell people all you really need to survive is 3 litres of vin ordinaire. And we have that stuff on THIS planet.

It was nice to see the usual coconuts from the Flying Saucer Community turning a buck, though. I love that guy with the funky beard!

posted 02-10-2006 07:25 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Duke Of URL:
I apologize for not knowing centrifuge training wasn't used.

---

I may be wrong... looking forward to someone who knows for sure to chime in.

posted 02-11-2006 03:01 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by FFrench:
I may be wrong... looking forward to someone who knows for sure to chime in.

---

posted 02-11-2006 11:58 AM               

The straining maneuver – nicknamed “M-1" or "L-1” – consists of clenching all the body’s major muscles, most importantly the legs and abdominals, and ballistic breathing. The latter involves quickly sucking in air, holding the breath for a few seconds, grunting, explosively exhaling and gasping in another breath, which is repeated until G’s are “offloaded.” The pilots breathing sounds like a powerlifter trying to bench press a hippopotamus.

Fortunately, G suits were developed to prevent blood pooling in the lower extremities. This suit is a pair of pants with inflatable air bladders over the large muscle groups. When an aircraft is put into a high-G maneuver, the G-suit inflates and forces blood back into the upper body.

posted 02-12-2006 02:16 PM               

Carpenter was not familiar with the M-1 term, but when asked about the "grunting," he independently referred to the use of muscles one would use in a "dead lift." The grunting is "an artifact," he says, of the occasional inhaling one is required to do during a high-g exercise. The grunting precedes inhaling.

Some other items of interest.

--The high-g runs at Johnsville were typically run in the G sub z mode (supine), pioneered by the Navy.

--Astronauts and others training for Atlas abort profiles (aborts produced very high-g reentries, for which astronauts would therefore need to train) did not use pressure suits or G suits when on the centrifuge.

--Further, centrifuge runs are measured in two ways, Carpenter reminded me, by rate of acceleration and duration. Carter Collins set the record in 1958 (something like 20 gs--I do not know the duration).

NASA researchers found that some football players sustain as many as 40 gs in being tackled, for example, but this assault on the body lasts for only a fraction of a second.

So sustainable gs are a function of rate of acceleration AND duration. (Thank you, Dad.)

When asked, he said he remembers reading that the Blue Angels reach up to 9 gs for "short periods."

Carpenter recalled in addition one Johnsville experiment that called for a 24-hour (duration) 2 g (rate of acceleration) run on the centrifuge. Researchers thought it best to start with chimps. The chimp died a couple of hours into the experiment. Anyone can do 2 gs. But duration is another matter.

Carpenter set the Project Mercury record, he recalled today, sustaining 16 gs for five seconds--no g suit, in a G sub z mode.

In FOR SPACIOUS SKIES (I just checked), it says Carpenter went up to 18 gs. But there's no mention of duration.

So as far as memory served today, 16 gs at 5 seconds was the Johnsville record set during Project Mercury. It was held by Carpenter.

posted 02-12-2006 06:50 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by KC Stoever:
[B]So as far as memory served today, 16 gs at 5 seconds was the Johnsville record set during Project Mercury. It was held by Carpenter.
B]

---

There is another measure: frequency. A human being whacked on top of his head by a wife's shoe is only subject to 2 Gs, which is easily survivable, and the actual duration is quite short.

However, when this 2G force is applied rapidly over the course of, say, ten seconds the damage can mount up. Especially since you're experiencing high-frequency periods of "eyeballs in/eyeballs out" stress(your eyeballs barely get back in before they pop out again) and 110 plus decibel sonic loads.

posted 02-12-2006 07:00 PM               

quote:

---

However, when this 2G force is applied rapidly over the course of, say, ten seconds the damage can mount up.

---

We've noticed....

posted 02-12-2006 10:37 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Duke Of URL:
There is another measure: frequency. A human being whacked on top of his head by a wife's shoe is only subject to 2 Gs, which is easily survivable, and the actual duration is quite short.

---

Dad, is that you?