Joseph Kittinger's Leap of Faith

Look carefully: You can just make out Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger, Jr. in a record-shattering free fall from the very edge of space on August 16, 1960, after jumping from a balloon-supported gondola 102,800 feet above New Mexico. During his descent, Kittinger reached approximate speeds of 614 miles an hour. The clouds beneath him are 15 miles away. Kittinger's leap was part of the Air Force's "Project Excelsior," which conducted research into high altitude bailouts from aircraft. Incredibly, almost 50 years later, Kittinger's record for the longest-ever free fall and highest parachute jump still stand.

Bruce McCandless' space ride

In February, 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless floats 320 feet from the space shuttle Challenger during the first-ever untethered space walk, made possible by that most sci-fi of all gadgets, a jet-propelled backpack. Almost everything that makes the idea of exploring space can be found in this picture: the immediately recognizeable human form; the vastness of space; the blue glow of Earth, an impossibly long way off, and yet right there, in sight. For a second this picture feels comical. Quite quickly, it turns harrowing and thrilling at once.

Wearable Airbag Systems

Prone Gyres by Mowry Baden

In this floor hugging work Prone Gyres an arm supports a low platform in the shape of a truncated massage table. Operating a bit like a motorized lazy Susan, it allows a viewer to lie prone and use his or her own weight to propel the body through minor whorls of motorized gyres – an experience kindred to a ride on a lily pad engineered for a human being.

by Mowry Baden

SEVEN MYSTERIES OF GRAVITY

It's the force we all know about and think we understand. It keeps our feet firmly on the ground and our world circling the sun.

Yet look a little closer, and the certainties start to float away, revealing gravity as the most puzzling and least understood of the four fundamental forces of nature.

New Scientist

Astronaut Falling as a Cat

A trampolinist in a space suit imitating the falling movements of a cat, to find out how astronauts can move in space.

Professor Thomas R. Kane demonstrating a formula which explains how a cat's movements can be imitated by astronauts in space.




A cat being dropped upside down to demonstrate how a cat's movements while falling can be imitated by astronauts in space.

A gymnast rotating body by moving his arms in the "Jones Motion," during a test to see how astronauts can move in space with cat-like ease.

Falling in Style

Robotic Falling

Now soccerbots in Chile are learning to fall in a controlled way, reducing damage to themselves and their environment, letting them recover quickly and get on with the game- they can even fall over deliberately to save a shot on goal, for example.

Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield in the UK, points out that giving a large robot the ability to fall over gracefully could greatly extend the role of humanoid robots outside soccer, including cybersuits and robot legs that assist walking in elderly and disabled people. "At present if someone tripped in a cybersuit they would fall heavily and sustain injuries," he says. Improving the technology could make a fall less harmful for anyone wearing a such a suit. "What we need now is a good method for getting up gracefully."

New Scientist

Tate recreates 1971 art sensation

Revival of infamous Bodyspacemotionthings exhibition allows Tate audience to crawl, clamber, balance and slide.

In 1971 The Guardian’s reporter noted: 'Some of the 1,500 visitors became so intoxicated by [the] opportunities that they went around 'jumping and screaming' to quote the exhibitions keeper, Mr Michael Compton. They went berserk on the giant see-saws, and they loosened the boards on other exhibits by trampling on them. ... 'It was just a case of exceptionally exuberant or energetic participation,' Mr Compton said tolerantly'

Guardian

Tilted room

A tilted room is extremely disturbing. It is hard to walk, and even to stand up. This happens when the visual sense provides information which does not agree with sensations from gravity. This is disturbing for astronauts living in a zero-gravity environment, and often causes severe disorientation illusions and space sickness. It also happens to pilots executing roll manoeuvres. Their disorientation can be so severe that they lose control and crash. It also happens to old people and people suffering from vertigo.
http://www.answers.com/topic/tilted-room

North American Aviation Co. engineers re-enacting bailout

North American Aviation Co. engineers re-enacting bailout.

Upside-down 'lifestyle'

Naval researcher Dr. Dietrich Beischer testing effects of being upside-down for prolonged periods of time on animals.

Barany chair

3rd Aviation Instruction Center. Issoudun, France. Medical research falling test. “William Holland Wilmer, Barany Chair Test. Robert Barany won 1914 Nobel prize for caloric nystagmus work. Pilot candidate (in chair) is recovering from spin administered by William Hollard Wilmer, director of 3rd Aviation Instruction Center, Issoudun , and donor of Wilmer ophthalmoscope collection. – A. Noe, Assistant Director for Collections and Research, 4/15/1991.” [Now director of the museum.]

Giant Eyes

Randolph Field, TX. Cpl. Charles F. Morris of Bristow, OK, an assistant instructor of aviation medical examiners at the US Air Force School of Aviation Medicine. These two giant specimens are used in classes to teach the fundamental actions of the muscles used by the eyes and they even light up in real life fashion. Moved by two small motors, the large-sized eyes also enable large groups to see its actions in classroom discussions, and are another of the instruments developed by aero medical researchers in the continuing program of aviation medicine. Pilot has to forget the body, use only his sight.

Home-made roller coaster

John Ivers of Bruceville, Indiana built his own roller coaster featuring a 360-degree loop. The Blue Flash cost $1500 and took a year and a half to build using trial and error. The 180-foot long home-made roller coaster constructed in his backyard goes “over the tool shed, under the elm tree, and around the rose bushes - all in 30 seconds”.

Tankchair

http://www.tankchair.com/default.htm

measuring effects of heat on body during highspeed jet flight

Research at St. Louis Univ. to measure effects of heat on body during highspeed jet flight.

Above: Soldier testing environmental suit in varying weather conditions, and air conditioned suit in 165 degree heat.
Below: Man working on large air conditioning units which are used for environmental testing of military equipment.


Life

Prandtl–Glauert singularity

Rapid condensation of water-vapor due to a sonic shock produced at sub-sonic speed creates a vapor cone (known as a Prandtl–Glauert singularity), which can be seen with the naked eye.

David "Bullet" Smith

David has been a human cannonball for over 11 years. He has performed more than 5000 cannon shots around the world.

He is the highest flying Human Cannonball in the world today with his world record braking human cannonball shots and his dynamic personality.

Fire in Microgravity

On Earth, gravity determines how the flame burns. All the hot gases in the flame are much hotter (and less dense) than the surrounding air, so they move upward toward lower pressure. This is why fire typically spreads upward, and it's also why flames are always "pointed" at the top. If you were to light a fire in a microgravity environment, say onboard the space shuttle, it would form a sphere!

Antal Lakner's Training in Moving Spaces

Earth’s gravitational map

via Discovery

Body Master

One of the first "Correcting Devices" by ZBIGNIEW LIBERA. Two body-building devices and an advertising poster, adjusted to the body size of 7-9 years old boys. Fully functional, modeled on authentic devices, the only difference being very light weights here made from paper. This toy replicates an actual body-building machine, but the only thing that can be trained here is the child's psyche.

C-Leg

Powered prosthesis is about to become a new specialty of vehicle design or maybe rather fashion design?

Manufacturer & Newscientist:

Sensors Provide Real-Time Gait Information
Data is taken 50 times a second by a joint angle sensor. While a force-sensing strain gauge pylon is used to determine phase of gait and walking speed of the user.

Unique Software Analyzes the Gait Information
We've designed our software to determine the best resistance and setting. The software considers the real-time sensor data to establish which phase of gait the user is in...and
algorithms based on thousands of gait cycles are built into our software.

Microprocessor-Controlled Hydraulics
Gives optimal response during swing phase. Not a step early, not a step late. Flexion and extension motors are continuously adjusted to create optimal stability during stance phase.

Resulting in:

• greater freedom of movement
• changing speed
• reacting to uneven terrain
• tackling slopes
• descending stairs step-over-step