1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: The Trip Around the Moon by Artemis two this week 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: has really inspired a whole new interest in the exploration 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: of deep space. What's out there beyond our atmosphere, beyond 4 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: our moon, and even beyond our Solar system. It's as 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: thrilling to consider as it must have been five hundred 6 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: or a thousand years ago for explorers heading into the 7 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: open sea, not knowing where or how it ended. I'm 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: Patty Steele, but here's the thing. Heading into unknown territory 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: can also be incredibly dangerous. That's next on the back story. 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: We're back with the backstory. When the Wright brothers piloted 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: the first successful powered flight of an airplane a week 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: before Christmas in nineteen o three, they changed our world. 13 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: That first flight was only ten feet off the ground, 14 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: going six point eight miles per hour for just one 15 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty feet, but they might as well have 16 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: launched to the moon given what it meant to human transportation. 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: But danger was and is a constant. The first person 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: to die due to a powered airplane accident was actually 19 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: just along for the ride. In September of nineteen oh eight, 20 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: Army aviation researcher Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge was riding along with 21 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: Orvill Wright as he flew his right Model A plane 22 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: when it crashed due to a broken propeller. While Orville 23 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: suffered a broken leg and broken ribs, he did survive. Unfortunately, 24 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: Selfridge had a nasty and fatal head wound, and he 25 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: died three hours later. There were lots of air crashes 26 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: that followed, but his flight. In the twentieth century evolved, 27 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: we moved beyond just flying around in Earth's atmosphere and 28 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: started thinking seriously about space. After the Soviet Union launched 29 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: Sputnik in nineteen fifty seven, there was panic in the 30 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: United States about which nation was more advanced in the 31 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: space race. By the early nineteen sixties, America was fixated 32 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: unracing the Soviets to the Moon. The stakes were global, political, 33 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: and existential. Then, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human 34 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: in space in nineteen sixty one, America felt humiliated by 35 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: the Soviets. NASA was under enormous pressure to move fast 36 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: Mercury missions, Gemini missions, Apollo on the horizon. The technology 37 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: was improving rapidly, rockets were getting stronger, capsules more advanced, 38 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: but there was a quiet question behind the speeches and 39 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: rocket launches. NASA discovered a problem so alarming it was 40 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: kept quiet, not from the public, but from history itself. 41 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: It wasn't a rocket flaw, it wasn't a guidance failure. 42 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: It was the human body, and it almost stopped the 43 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: space race cold. The question was could the human body 44 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: survive what these machines were about to do to it. 45 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: To find out, NASA ran a series of brutal ground 46 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: tests using centrifuges, machines that spun astronauts at extreme speeds 47 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: to simulate the crushing forces of launch and re entry. 48 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: The goal was simple, measure how much g force the 49 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: human body could tolerate. The results were not reassuring. The 50 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: willing astronauts began losing vision, then consciousness, then control of 51 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: their bodies. And this wasn't happening at the edge of possibility. 52 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: It was happening within the limits NASA had already designed 53 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: its spacecraft to withstand. In some tests, astronauts, including John Glenn, 54 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: the first American in space, were subjected to sickening pressure 55 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: and blacked out for several seconds, long enough to miss 56 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: critical flight operations during re entry. Think about it, if 57 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: this happened in space there would be no second chance. 58 00:03:54,480 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: NASA engineers realized something unnerving. The rockets weren't wrong wasn't wrong, 59 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: It was the assumption that was wrong. Engineers had designed 60 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: the capsules based on what machines could handle, not on 61 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: what humans could handle. Yikes. If those findings became public, 62 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 1: it would change everything, maybe even blow up the program. 63 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: It would mean that astronauts might not be able to 64 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: control their spacecraft during the most dangerous moments, that the 65 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: Moon missions could be delayed indefinitely, and that the Soviet 66 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: Union could pull even further ahead if they were less careful. 67 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: So NASA did what governments often do in moments like this, 68 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: They just went quiet. Instead of redesigning the rockets, they 69 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: turned inward toward biology. Doctors, physiologists, and engineers worked together 70 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: to understand what was actually happening inside the body under 71 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: extreme force. They realized blood was being pulled away from 72 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:59,280 Speaker 1: the brain. Vision failed first, then consciousness. What they discovered 73 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:03,919 Speaker 1: was the solution wasn't strength or endurance. It was posture. 74 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: NASA figured out that how astronauts were positioned made a 75 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: massive difference. Upright seating was found to be incredibly dangerous 76 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: incline seating hugely improved blood flow to the brain, so 77 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: they redesigned everything. They changed seat angles, control placements, and 78 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: restraint systems. In effect, the astronaut's body became part of 79 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:32,160 Speaker 1: the spacecraft itself. But here's the thing. NASA never made 80 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: a big announcement about this vulnerability. There was no press conference, 81 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: no dramatic pause in the space race. The fixes were 82 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: implemented quietly, simply folded into new capsule designs. The thing is, 83 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: they knew that admitting the truth that astronauts might pass 84 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,600 Speaker 1: out at the worst possible moment could have ended public 85 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: support for the space race literally overnight. The Moon landing 86 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: depended not just on courage, but on careful omission. From 87 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: a marketing standpoint, Had those early tests gone just a 88 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: little worse, NASA would have faced an impossible choice send 89 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: astronauts knowing they might lose consciousness, or pause the program 90 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: and risk losing the space race entirely. Either option would 91 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: have changed history. But because they caught the problem early 92 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: and solved it quietly, without the noise of the press, 93 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: missions like Apollo eight and Apollo eleven became possible. Imagine 94 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: getting away with that today. Because of how that moment 95 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: was handled. Neil Armstrong didn't just walk on the Moon 96 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: because of rockets. He did it because somebody realized the 97 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: human body couldn't be treated like cargo. It's funny when 98 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: we think of the Space Race, we picture fire steel 99 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: at crazy speed, but one of its greatest threats was invisible, 100 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,599 Speaker 1: measured in heart beats and blood pressure, not explosions. The 101 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: space wasn't nearly lost to failure or fear. Who was 102 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: nearly lost to biology? And the reason we don't remember 103 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: this test is because it worked quietly. Hope you're enjoying 104 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review and 105 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. 106 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: Also feel free to dm me if you have a 107 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: story'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele 108 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The 109 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis 110 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 111 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 112 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 113 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty 114 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 115 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: to the backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history 116 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.