The water immersion facility

Abstract

The water immersion technique is a major training tool for extra-vehicular activities and man's physical move ment inside and around the spacecraft while in space. This technique is also very useful for hardware devel opment and procedures verification. The water immer sion technique involves the balancing of buoyant forces with gravitational forces for zero g (simulated space travel) or overcoming the buoyant forces with grav itational forces by some fraction, such as one-sixth g, for simulated lunar-surface training. When the present-day space suit filled with a man and air is submerged in the water, several imbalances can be expected. These are usually resolved by rebalancing the suited subject.

The Water Immersion Facility (WIF), Figure 7, at the Manned Spacecraft Center consists chiefly of a water tank, a control room, and a small medical installation. For spacecraft exercises, mockup trainers with special provisions for viewing, submersion, and safety are used in the water tank.