Images Dated 2nd June 1999

View of John Stapp during G-force testing

Acceleration and deceleration testing. View of John Stapp strapped in a sled seat during high G- force acceleration and deceleration testing. Accelerometers attached to his mouth-piece, chest and knee transmit data. The 27 rocket-propelled runs made by Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Stapp (born 1910) showed the effects of rapid acceleration and deceleration on the human body. On December 10 1954, Stapp reached 632 miles per hour in 5 seconds before being brought back to rest in just over a second with a force of over 40 Gs. Despite initial blindness and collapsed lungs, he quickly recovered, proving that it was possible to survive an ejection from a supersonic aircraft

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY