Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, Air Force Surgeon General, cuts the ribbon with Air Force Research Laboratory Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle and 711th Human Performance Wing Acting Director Darrell Phillipson, during a ceremony May 27 signifying the opening of the research altitude chambers in AFRL. (U.S. Air Force photo by Richard Eldridge)210527-F-HX758-2010.JPG
                        
                        
                        Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, Air Force Research Laboratory commander; Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, Air Force surgeon general; and Darrell Phillipson, 711th Human Performance Wing acting director; cut the ceremonial ribbon during the opening of the new research altitude chambers May 27, 2021, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The four computer-controlled altitude chambers will perform a variety of studies to ensure the durability of flight equipment as well as to determine the effects altitude has on the human body. (U.S. Air Force photo by Richard Eldridge)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res
        


        Research altitude chamber three was on display following a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 27 hosted by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing. One of four chambers, this chamber is utilized to perform rapid decompressions as quickly as .04 seconds with qualified research participants up to 60,000 feet. (U.S. Air Force photo by Richard Eldridge)210527-F-HX758-1003.JPG
                        
                        
                        Shown is research altitude chamber three following a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 27, 2021 at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. One of four chambers, this chamber is utilized to perform rapid decompressions as quickly as .04 seconds with qualified research participants up to 60,000 feet. (U.S. Air Force photo by Richard Eldridge)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res
        


        Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, Air Force Surgeon General, watches a decompression demonstration through a window of research altitude chamber one following a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 27 hosted by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711 HPW. (U.S. Air Force photo by Richard Eldridge)210527-F-HX758-2013.JPG
                        
                        
                        Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, Air Force surgeon general, observes a decompression demonstration through a window of research altitude chamber one following a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 27, 2021 at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The four chambers will produce data ensuring air crews have durable equipment needed during flight operations. Further, the chambers will provide crews essential altitude training so they can complete their missions efficiently and effectively. (U.S. Air Force photo by Richard Eldridge)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

AFRL opens research altitude chambers, becomes force in aerospace physiologyPublished June 3, 2021
                    
                    By Gina Marie Giardina
                    
                    
                    Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs
            **WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFNS) --**When Airmen are flying at 50,000 feet, they have to be prepared for every situation. And every piece of equipment that goes up with them must be able to function under the pressures of flight as well.
At the **Air Force Research Laboratory**, ensuring pilots, air crews and all flight equipment can withstand various pressures, is one of the missions in the lab’s **711th Human Performance Wing**, where research and aerospace medicine converge to enhance the performance and readiness of operational Airmen.
In order for these flying Airmen and their equipment to be ready, they must be tested against such pressures. Research must be conducted. Data must be collected. Training must occur. All of this is made possible by AFRL’s human performance experts in partnership with the **Naval Medical Research Unit-Dayton**, at **Wright-Patterson Air Force Base** with state-of-the-art facilities including NAMRU-D’s spacial disorientation device called the **Kraken**, AFRL’s human-rated centrifuge, and most recently added, the lab’s research altitude chambers, commonly known as the RAC.
On May 27, leadership and aerospace physiology experts from across the Air Force came together both in person and virtually via Zoom for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the RAC, a family of four computer-controlled altitude chambers.
“Aerospace physiology research and training here in the RAC and in our other facilities, is essential to the readiness of our air crews and their missions,” said Darrell Phillipson, AFRL human performance wing acting director, who presided over the ceremony. “Today, we are standing at the DoD’s epicenter of aerospace physiology research capability and expertise.”
But this convergence of expertise and facilities for aerospace physiology is anything but new. In fact, it’s been a plan for decades, growing and strategically relocating as technology has advanced.
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Rosales, the event’s master of ceremonies, discussed some of the history of how military scientists and researchers have provided the Air Force, sister services and NASA, with groundbreaking research and training relating to the effects of weightlessness, pressure, altitude, temperature, acceleration and numerous other challenges that can arise in flight dating back as far as the late 1950s, decades before the strategic stand-up of AFRL’s human performance wing in 2008. Rosales told the audience, which included **Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg**, Air Force surgeon general, retired Lt. Gen. Mark Ediger, **Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle**, AFRL commander, and Tim Sakulich, AFRL executive director, among others, about the historical contribution to NASA with the development of space suits used by astronauts in the Gemini and Apollo programs.
As air frames and technology advance, so does research and training.
“These four research altitude chambers will give us an unprecedented capability to test and gather data, ensuring the continued longevity of flight equipment, and providing us a more complete set of tools to measure the effects of altitude on our pilots and air crews,” Phillipson said. “And this larger family of test facilities, supporting labs, and world-class talent establishes AFRL, in partnership with NAMRU-D, as one of the most capable and functionally-equipped research centers in aerospace physiology in the world. These facilities ensure our air crews are ready now, and for whatever the future may bring.”
For additional information about the RAC and the capabilities of each chamber, click **here**. For additional information on AFRL’s centrifuge, click **here**. For information about NAMRU-D’s Kraken, visit **here**. For a quick recap of the RAC ribbon-cutting ceremony, click **here**.LR 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



AFRL 



711th HPW 



research 



altitude 



chamber 



innovation 



ACOL 



modernization 



the Kraken 



air crew 



pressurized 



decompression 



data 



training 



testing 



hypoxia 



AFMC 



Air Force Materiel Command Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil