Body Casts

BODY CASTS

1963 Centrifuge Experiments
General Dynamics Centrifuge at San Diego, California

In an attempt to eliminate tactile sensory information to discover what other senses the G-11 receive, Graybiel and his team molded body casts for use in a centrifuge room.

A man in a hard helmet climbs into a centrifuge, looking back over his shoulder toward the camera. An aide is inside with him.

NASA used several centrifuges throughout the years, trying to anticipate and replicate every possibility in space. Some, like the one Barron Gulak is in here, required riding solo in an enclosure and taking blood tests.

A man in a full body cast with the name Zakutney on the chest. He is in a small crane and others are helping load him into a centrifuge ball.

John Zakutney, wearing a body cast bolted to a frame, is being lowered into a centrifuge seat.

Body casts, each shaped to the individual participating in the experiment, prevented movement while in the centrifuge.

A man in a full body wetsuit with hood stands patiently while another man in t-shirt and jeans works on him.
A man in a wetsuit leans over a box while plaster is being applied to his back by two other men.

Each subject was fitted with a rubber suit, as pictured here with Myers. Then they had to remain still until the fiberglass molds were hardened.

"One at a time we put on our suits and were bolted to a frame, then picked up by a crane and lowered into the water up to the necks. That could have been quite scary, but by this time we had great confidence in the researchers."
–Donald Peterson

A man in a wetsuit with the name Myers on the chest is lowered into a centrifuge ball by two other men.
A metal ball inside a large round protected area, inside a large room.

Experiments

The General Dynamics Centrifuge was the biggest rotating equipment at the time, and it could accelerate, tilt, and decelerate at speeds up to 60 rpm.

"As it gained speed, our (tanks) moved outward at an angle."
–Peterson

Subjects were again asked to reset a glowing line to horizontal.

They put a mask on, something like underwater goggles. We could see a lighted line inside. The normal subjects did quite well. The L-D were usually far off. We didn’t really know which way was 'up.'"
-Peterson

A man in a body cast in water inside a centrifuge smiles and looks at the camera. In a cubby next to him, another man wears regular clothes and looks over his shoulder.
A top down view of the centrifuge ball shows a man in a body cast immersed in water, with testing equipment. Attached to the ball is a cubby where another man is in regular clothes with no water.

Bob Kennedy "on the left [was] one of the Navy doctors. He rode dry, taking pictures of our eyeballs during the centrifuge rotation. The pictures were what they used to measure nystagmus.”
–Jerald Jordan

A man in a body cast with Peterson on the chest looks directly at the camera, while four other men, including one in a lab coat, load him into the centrifuge ball.

Dr. Ashton Graybiel, in white lab coat, headed up all experiments. Here, Don Peterson is being secured to the centrifuge seat.

“Captain Graybiel was always much concerned with our wellbeing, and always had a lot of personal questions to ask us.”
–Bob Greenmun

Body Casts