1 A PUSH-BUTTON ASTRONAUT Isolation, Confinement, and Vigilance in Pre-NASA Spaceflight Simulations FISO Telecon: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 Dr. Jordan Bimm (Princeton University) @jordanbimm 2 THE MERCURY SEVEN Military test-pilots selected by NASA in April 1959 3 EARLIER MILITARY WORK ON ASTRONAUTS at the USAF School of Aviation Medicine (SAM) begins in 1949 1953 1958 4 5 6 1. Non-Pilot Simulator Test-Subjects 2. High-Altitude Indigenous People & Mountaineers 3. Women Pilots tested at The Lovelace Clinic 4. Animal Astronauts: Able & Baker 7 HUBERTUS STRUGHOLD First head of the SAM Department of Space Medicine Originator of the space cabin simulator concept Known as “the Father of Space Medicine” Now controversial for his leadership role in German Luftwaffe aviation medicine research in WW2 He knew about lethal human experiments on concentration camp prisoners 8 USAF SAM DEPARTMENT OF SPACE MEDICINE (1949) Heinz Haber, Konrad Buettner, Hubertus Strughold, Fritz Haber 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 STRUGHOLD AND THE SIMULATOR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, DECEMBER, 1957 20 21 22 23 24 Then-Senator Lyndon Johnson congratulates Farrell as Strughold looks on 25 Then-Senator Lyndon Johnson congratulates Farrell as Strughold looks on 1958 1968 26 27 28 29 30 2TV-1 “Pacesetter” (1968) 31 32 SKYLAB 4 (1974) Gerald Carr: “We won’t mention the barf, we’ll just throw that down the airlock.” Edward Gibson: “They’re not going to be able to keep track of that.” William Pogue: “Yeah, it’s just between you, me and the couch.” 33 34 THANK YOU Funding for this project was provided by the HSS/NASA Fellowship in the History of Space Science and The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Special thanks to the amazing archivists and librarians at the NASA History Office, the Air Force Historical Research Agency, the National Archives, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Deborah Douglas, Asif Siddiqi, Matthew Hersch, and Edward Jones- Imhotep provided helpful feedback on earlier versions of this project. Thank you to the other members of the Princeton University Social Studies of Space Research Unit, Janet Vertesi and David Reinecke. Dr. Jordan Bimm (Princeton University) @jordanbimm.