The last hurdle was the high altitude chamber and once again Bambi join a class of cadets for the ride. The high altitude chamber is a steel cylinder about twenty-five feet long and twelve feet in diameter. The inside is like the interior of an aircraft fuselage containing stations for each student to sit. Each station has an O2 face mask along with assorted playing cards and other devices to test mental acuity in oxygen starved heights. Along each chamber wall is small port holes for doctors from the Aerospace Medical School to monitor the ascent to altitude.
Air is pumped from the cylinder to simulate the climb to altitude.
In the chamber all of the gas laws are in evidence, a balloon hanging limp at sea level will be the size of a basketball at 30,000 feet altitude. So it is in the chamber. This day Bambi entered the chamber and took her seat with seven grinning Cadet studs. The two inside safety monitors closed the hatch and the pumps started to evacuate the air from the chamber. The occupants put on their oxygen masks, turned on the oxygen and tested their systems.