Notes

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%20by%20an%20adaptation%20of%20an%20existing%20missile%2C%20the%20Atlas.%20The%20modifications%20to%20this%20launch%20vehicle%20for%20use%20in%20the%20Mercury%20Project%20included%20the%20addition%20of%20a%20means%20to%20sense%20automatically%20impending%20catastrophic%20failure%20of%20the%20launch%20vehicle%20and%20provisions%20to%20accommodate%20a%20new%20structure%20that%20would%20form%20the%20transition%20between%20the%20upper%20section%20of%20the%20launch%20vehicle%20and%20the%20spacecraft.%20Also%2C%20the%20pilot-safety%20program%20was%20initiated%20to%20insure%20the%20selection%20of%20quality%20components.%20(Excerpt%202)*%20We%20set%20sail%20on%20this%20new%20sea%20because%20there%20is%20new%20knowledge%20to%20be%20gained%2C%20and%20new%20rights%20to%20be%20won%2C%20and%20they%20must%20be%20won%20and%20used%20for%20the%20progress%20of%20all%20people.%20For%20space%20science%2C%20like%20nuclear%20science%20and%20all%20technology%2C%20has%20no%20conscience%20of%20its%20own.%20Whether%20it%20will%20become%20a%20force%20for%20good%20or%20ill%20depends%20on%20man%2C%20and%20only%20if%20the%20United%20States%20occupies%20a%20position%20of%20preeminence%20can%20we%20help%20decide%20whether%20this%20new%20ocean%20will%20be%20a%20sea%20of%20peace%20or%20a%20new%2C%20terrifying%20theater%20of%20war.%20John%20F.%20Kennedy%20Rice%20University%20Stadium%20Houston%2C%20Texas%20September%2012%2C%201962%20CHAPTER%20TWO%2C%20%22Exploring%20the%20Human%20Factor%22%20(1948-1958)%20The%20development%20of%20the%20large%20liquid-fueled%20rocket%20made%20the%20dazzling%20prospect%20of%20manned%20flight%20beyond%20Earth%27s%20atmosphere%20and%20into%20the%20vacuum%20of%20space%20increasingly%20feasible%20from%20the%20standpoint%20of%20propulsion.%20By%201950%2C%20however%2C%20only%20instrumented%20sounding%20rockets%2C%20fired%20to%20ever%20higher%20altitudes%20in%20both%20the%20United%20States%20and%20the%20Soviet%20Union%2C%20had%20reached%20into%20space%20before%20falling%20earthward.%20Although%20a%20number%20of%20these%20experimental%20shots%20carried%20living%20organisms%20(everything%20from%20fungus%20spores%20to%20monkeys%20in%20the%20United%20States%2C%20mainly%20dogs%20in%20the%20U.S.S.R.)%20the%20data%20acquired%20from%20telemetry%20and%20from%20occasional%20recovery%20of%20rocket%20nose%20cones%20had%20not%20shown%20conclusively%20how%20long%20organisms%20could%20live%20in%20space%2C%20or%20indeed%20whether%20man%20could%20survive%20at%20all%20outside%20the%20protective%20confines%20of%20his%20atmosphere.%20Scientists%20still%20were%20hesitant%20to%20predict%20how%20a%20human%20being%20would%20behave%20under%20conditions%20to%20be%20encountered%20in%20space%20flight.%20Thus%20while%20space%20flight%20became%20technologically%20practicable%2C%20physiologically%20and%20psychologically%20it%20remained%20an%20enigma.%20In%20the%20early%201950s%20an%20acceleration%20of%20efforts%20in%20upper-atmospheric%20and%20space%20medical%20research%20accompanied%20the%20quickened%20pace%20of%20rocket%20development%20in%20this%20country%20and%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union.%20During%20the%20next%20few%20years%20medical%20specialists%2C%20profiting%20from%20substantial%20progress%20in%20telemetering%20clinical%20data%2C%20learned%20a%20great%20deal%20about%20what%20a%20man%20could%20expect%20when%20he%20went%20into%20the%20forbidding%20arena%20of%20space.%20Much%20of%20the%20confidence%20with%20which%20the%20engineers%20of%20Project%20Mercury%20in%201958%20approached%20the%20job%20of%20putting%20a%20man%20into%20orbit%20and%20recovering%20him%20stemmed%20from%20the%20findings%20of%20hundreds%20of%20studies%20made%20in%20previous%20years%20on%20the%20human%20factors%20in%20space%20flight.%20Since%20the%20National%20Advisory%20Committee%20for%20Aeronautics%20was%20interested%20almost%20exclusively%20in%20the%20technology%20of%20flight%2C%20research%20in%20the%20medical%20problems%20of%20space%20flight%2C%20like%20aviation%20medicine%20in%20previous%20decades%2C%20was%20the%20province%20primarily%20of%20the%20military%20services%20and%20of%20some%20civilian%20research%20organizations%20receiving%20funds%20from%20the%20military.%20Of%20the%20three%20services%2C%20the%20United%20States%20Air%20Force%2C%20rich%20in%20background%20in%20aeromedical%20research%20and%20assuming%20that%20space%20medicine%20was%20but%20an%20extension%20of%20aviation%20medicine%2C%20undertook%20most%20of%20the%20early%20inquiry%20into%20the%20psycho-physiological%20problems%20of%20extra-atmospheric%20flight.%20*%202.%20Also%2C%20the%20Previous%20are%20excerpts%20from%20%22This%20New%20Ocean%2C%20A%20History%20of%20Project%20Mercury%2C%22%20NASA%20SP-4201%2C%20by%20Loyd%20S.%20Swenson%2C%20Jr.%2C%20James%20M.%20Grimwood%2C%20and%20Charles%20C.%20Alexander.%20This%20book%20was%20printed%20in%201966%2C%20and%20it%20was%20for%20sale%20by%20the%20U.S.%20Government%20Printing%20Office.%20Library%20of%20Congress%20Catalog%20Card%20Number%20is%2066-62424.)%20%2B%20Proj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