Evening star., 1961-06-06
SHEPARD
Continued From First Page

| OO@@@NAs eO-ASk<sNAA W 90 GAotA O4AGAJ
donald K. Slayton, who car
ried on a laconic conversation
with the spaceman during the
May 5 flight.
Both astronauts said the
long and rigorous Mercury
training program had proved
its validity. Sessions in the big
human centrifuge at Johns
vile, Pa, and other space
flight simulators prepared the
astronaut well for his ordeal,
they declared.
Il found that the flight en-
vironment was very close to the
environment provided by the
centrifuge," Comdr. Shepard
said. "The flight accelerations
were smooth, of the same mag
nitude used during training,
and certainly in no way dis
turbing."
THE success of any training
program can only be evalu-
ated when compared with an
actual flight" Maj. Slayton
said. 1T appears that our
training was entirely adequate
for this flight and that nothing
was missed"
Among the bizarre adventures
experienced by the astronauts
in preparation for space flight
were these:
/. Eating and drinking while
riding "weightless" in high
performance jet planes for
periods up to a minute.
| 2. Undergoing acceleration in
the Johnsonville centrifuge up
to 18Gs-the point at which the
subject feels 18 times his own
weight.
8. Riding a frictionless ma
chine that gives training in
control of the space capsule in
flight.
Dizziness Overcome
4. Overcoming dizziness and
nausea in a revolving room"
which Stimulates the mysterious
"corioliS effect" which may be
a hazard to men in space.
, 5. 1nhaling 80 times the nor
NAL concentration of carbon
dieXide in a special chamber
at the National Naval Medical
Center in Bethesda.
6. Learning stellar naviga-
tion by riding a Link Trainer
in planetariurn at the Uni
versity of North Carolina.
z. "Egressing" from a SUBJ
merged Mercury capsule.
8. Swimming a mile under
, water with skin-diving equip
ment at the Navy's frogman
school at Little Creek. Virginia
near Norfolk.
Maj. Slayton stressed impor-
tance of one additional facet
OF their training-the flying oi
hot jet airplanes. All the as.
tronauts are test pilots.
I'VE feel that by staying
highly proficient as pilots oi
conventional aircraft, we car
maintain our sharpness ir
, making rapid judgments anc
in reacting accordingly, under
somewhat adverse conditions
where the penalty for erring is
greater than merely shutting
down a machine and starting
it over again." Mai. Slayton
said.
Maj. Slayton revealed that
, the pre-flight training given
, an astronaut for the mission he
, will fly is longer than had pre-
viouSly been reported. He set
the time at approximately
) eight weeks" instead of the
three weeks prior notice re-
portedly given Comdr. Shepard
before his flight.
George Nj. Low. director of
manned space flight programs
for NASA, was asked to explain
the apparent discrepancy. He
said that in the case of the
first manned flight, Comdr.
Shepard and two colleagues,
1t. Col. John H. Glenn and
Capt. Virgil I. Grissom, were
chosen about eight weeks in
advance and all took the in
dividual training described by
Maj. Slayton. Comdr. Shepard
was designated No. l choice
for the ride three weeks before
nand, Mr.. Low said.
Christopher C. Chris Craft,
who was the man with his
finger on the button" during
Comdr. Shepard's ride, delivered
a paper giving details of the
flight plans and performance.
He said the space capsule sur
vived the trip lin excellent con-
dition and could be used again
to make similar flights"
Landing Pinpointed
Maximum acceleration on
the way up was 6.2Gs, 2 min
uteS and % seconds after
launch. and on the way down,
11GS at eight minutes and 20
seconds after launch. Top speed
was 5,036 miles an hour, maxi
mum altitude was 1852 statute
miles and horizontal distance
of the flight 302 statute miles.
Mr.. Craft remarked on the
accuracy with which the i'm
pact point was predicted less
than 212 minutes out of the
15-minute flight. The predic-
ton was only 3 miles off, he
said. This enabled the sea re-
covery party to be in the i'm
mediate area when the capsule
floated into the sea beneath a
parachute.
Comdr. Shepard minimized
the Importance of weightless-
ness as a physical and psyche
logical hurdle. Movements,