This paper is a report of the experimental data, mainly physiologic, concerning high altitude flying (up to 40,000 feet) obtained during the last two years in the Laboratory for Research in Aviation Medicine of the Section on Metabolic Research of the Mayo Clinic. The work has centered in the main around two subjects (1) anoxia (insufficient oxygen) caused by low barometric pressure and practical methods of its prevention, and (2) the dangers of aeroembolism and methods of avoiding the same. Training methods for aviation personnel in these subjects, and the necessity therefore, have been mentioned briefly.
The development of rocketry has, for the first time, made it possible for man to leave the environs of the earth's atmosphere. It has extended the arts and sciences of aviation into space and aviation medicine into space medicine. The progress is exemplified in Project Mercury, which is to place a manned capsule on top of an intercontinental ballistic missile rocket. Concurrently with these developments, an entirely new generation of stressors with their resultant stresses have presented themselves for solution. A few of the stressors are vibration, noise, weightlessness, and the toxic and corrosive qualities of the rocket fuels and oxidizers. Solutions of the many problems require close association with more conventional aspects of preventive medicine. WITHIN THE relatively near future an astro¬ naut will cross the earth's atmosphere ocean and pass into a new frontier-space. At first he will be followed by only a few, but later by many who will explore farther and farther into the vastness of the universe.We as doctors take pride in the participation of medicine along with our allied sciences in making this great adventure possible; without participation a "black box" or robot, or a computer, would occupy the place of the astronaut, and the advantage of direct observation, human decision, and variable response would be lost.But why is all this effort and vast resource being spent, and for what purpose? The answer is ob¬ vious. The primary effort is to gain knowledgemore knowledge of the basic laws of the universe, of the tremendous energies harnessed or spewed out by the many suns, and for many other reasons.Why are physicians participating? Again the answer is obvious. Our quest is also for knowledge -basic knowledge of environmental requirements for human existence, reactions to new stresses, and From the U. S.
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