by George Harsh
NOTE: I know that now-days it’s Human-Rated or Crewed ! However, back then it’s Man-Rated, or Manned.
During the early development of SKYLAB, Test Division received a request to conduct Crew Comfort Tests at 5 psia to provide data for the design of the heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) System. For these tests, we needed a Man-Rated Altitude Chamber, which none existed at MSFC!!
I had read in the Magazine, NAVAL AVIATION NEWS, about the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute at Pensacola, FL. I picked a name from the article, a Commander, called him, and Yes!, they had an excess chamber at the Jacksonville, FL, Naval Air Station!
So I traveled to JAXNAS & checked out the old, WW II, Training Chamber & it was perfect for our needs! All MSFC had to do was pay for its removal from a building, and the shipping to Huntsville. Our Lab’s Administrative Officer was an ex-Navy Chief so he handled all of that for me!
We installed our chamber in a rather new building, in a clean hi-bay area, & started stripping the chamber and then sand-blasted the inside.
Next, we painted the inside with “Skylab Paint” @ $80.00 per Gallon, a significant price back then!! I did not want ANY PART OF THE CHAMBER TO BE SOMETHING TO BE USED TO SHUT US DOWN!! Meanwhile, JSC was making a few forays in that area, like the 4 Test Subjects will pre-breathe 100% Oxygen for 2 hours before making the one hour test “flight”. We agreed, no problem. Also, you must have a M. D. present for each “flight”. Also, no problem, as little did they know that Dr. Tulio Figarola, a young M. D. in our MSFC Medical Center, was a Big-Time “SPACE- BUFF” and enthusiastically joined our Test Team !!
Note: For most Altitude Training Chambers a M. D. is not at the chamber, but on-call nearby.
In each 1-hour test “flight” the 4 test subjects sat at a table, with their oxygen masks on, and played cards, and every 15 minutes voted by paper ballot as to their comfort level, as the temperature, etc. etc. was varied. I had a list of 20 employees who had volunteered to be test subjects, and had passed the physical examinations.
Next, MSFC asked JSC to CERTIFY our Test Team as Manned Altitude Chamber Operators. Their reply was NO !! Manned Testing is conducted at JSC, and definitely not at MSFC!!!
I could care less, as I just called my contact, Commander Damato, at Pensacola NAS, and he immediately said that he would set up, just for us, a 2-week course to certify our Test Team as Man-Rated Altitude Chamber Operators !!!
Traveling to Pensacola NAS was Dr. Tulio Figarola, 2 Test Engineers, 2 Lead Foremen, (1 Mechanical, 1 Electrical), and me, also a Test Engineer. Our 2 Technicians were not approved physically by the Flight Surgeon to make a Flight in the Altitude Chamber. We other 4 were cleared & made a Flight with several Navy enlisted men. Their regular Flights were to 25,000 ft. (5 psia ), with each person wearing a mask breathing oxygen. Everyone is paired up as 2 man teams, and each will experience hypoxia (a lack of oxygen) by removing their mask. After 4 minutes without oxygen, your team-mate tells you to put on your mask, and if you don’t do that, he puts on the mask for you. Hypoxia does not affect one the same way every time. I clearly had “tunnel vision,” and was subtracting 3 from 100—writing the results on paper. I immediately made a mistake: 91-3=89!! I remember getting to 58 & writing it twice, but nothing after that!! When I wrote 15 four times !! “PUT ON YOUR MASK !!” And I did with no help! And the 4 minutes was about up.
So we returned to Huntsville with ALL Six carrying a card stating Certified Altitude Chamber Operator. Then, GUESS WHAT?, JSC said come on down and we will certify the MSFC TEAM ! So we did & they did. I could say ……. but I won’t. :-0) Our test team spent 3 days at JSC, making a “flight” with masks off at 25,000 feet altitude, etc. etc.
During these times, a JSC Navy Flight Surgeon was calling our Deputy Lab Director, Jim Kingsbury, to “discuss” our test program—Like Shut it Down!!! He used “salty Naval language” that was somewhat embarrassing to Jim who was a lay Methodist minister. Jim easily handled that, and would never complain, but Marshall management found out, and the JSC guy was given 2-3 other names to call!!
In a HUGE Step towards being Operational, The “Finishing Touches” (control panels, masks, breathing stations, etc. ) for our Chamber were completed by a “Do it All” Engineer/Technician from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. One of their missions is to install Altitude Training Chambers world-wide. So our chamber essentially looked like all other chambers !!
As a last ditch effort to shut us down, JSC sent up a retired Lt. Col. with significant chamber experience to “shake us down” and shut us down!!! However, they made a CRUCIAL MISTAKE—they sent a Guy with no JSC—MSFC axe to grind!!! We are EX-HAZARDOUS PROPULSION TEST ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS (with significant testing experience) AND WE HAVE PROCEDURES FOR EVERYTHING (INCLUDING EMERGENCIES ) & WE USE THEM!!! AND WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR SAFETY and Quality Control!!
We conducted an Unmanned “Flight” for the Colonel, and he gave us 3 emergencies during the “Flight” that we handled easily!!! Then, he made 3 minor suggestions that I incorporated immediately, and he returned to JSC & told them what he found: Those MSFC Guys know what they are doing!! BTW: At the start of the “Flight,” I informed the Colonel that if this was a manned “Flight,” Dr. Figarola, M. D., from the MSFC Medical Center, would be sitting beside me, with a headset on, looking at the test subjects through a window that was across the width of the chamber. And I also showed the Colonel our Medical Room, adjacent to the Chamber, that I had stocked with supplies and equipment as recommended by Dr. Figarola. I suspect that not many other Chambers have an adjacent Medical Room !
This “contest” finally elevated to the Center Directors level, and we received the word that our test program was approved, and ONLY THIS PROGRAM—NO OTHERS!!! And NO TESTING until an approval fax came that afternoon. Making the first “Flight” was Duane, the Hill Air Force Guy and me. I, of course, needed to be in the first “Flight”, as my thought process has always been: If I’m not in the First “Flight”, etc., etc. how can I ask others to “FLY?” As we were pre-breathing oxygen and waiting on the fax, Karl Heimburg, our Laboratory Director, got fed up and showed some of that “famous Heimburg Fire” and said “RUN THAT TEST—NOW !!!!” And, even though Mr. Heimburg was a Propulsion “Smoke & Fire” Guy, he came to the chamber and looked in through one of the small observation windows, as I gave him a Thumbs-Up!! The fax from JSC came in later that afternoon after the “Flight” was completed!!
We completed the 30 “Flight” Test Program, and I don’t recall that any Skylab Astronauts ever complained about Crew Comfort!!
Post-Tests, the chamber was placed on a government excess list & picked up by the the state of Alabama, and sent to Anniston, AL, where, I heard, they were growing flowers, but not at Altitude!!
