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| Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell. |
(Edited with corrections at Substack: https://georgebailey.substack.com/p/the-right-stuff-never-stumbles)
“The most miraculous thing was when they could get out of the spacecraft and not flop on their faces; and they could go up into the helicopter and get out on the carrier deck and walk pretty well. They were in better physiologic shape than the V crew. Initially, their tilt-table responses were not as bad and did not last as long. It looked more like four-day responses, by far, than eight-day. The calcium loss was the same way. Amazingly, they maintained their total blood volume. They didn't get any decrease, but they did it in a peculiar way. They lost the red-cell mass still, but they replaced the plasma-they put more fluid in. Apparently, there had been enough time for an adaptive phenomenon to take place.”
On The Shoulders Of Titans, p. 294
From sea legs to space legs.
The effects of weightlessness on the human body are well documented such as muscle degradation, calcium loss and other physical irregularities. The problems do not end there. Astronauts once returned to earth and gravity have a difficult time getting readjusted to having weight and mass and spatial orientation. They can have trouble talking and have blood pressure issues. Even the immune system can be compromised causing an astronaut to battle a minor infection. In many ways it is similar to sailors getting their “sea legs” once back on land after being months at sea.
Basically, zero gravity messes with your body.
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Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
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As astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti after her 200 days in space said, “Your co-ordination, your balance, all the little tiny muscles that you don’t even know you have but that help you to sit upright and walk upright”—all that was gone.” This required her to experience weeks of rehabilitation after returning from space. Walking was so difficult that Cristoforetti remarked that her legs felt like “tree trunks.”
Shuttle astronaut Dr. Anna Fisher remarked, “Also in your sensory canals there is a mismatch between what you’re feeling and seeing so it take a while to adapt not only to get your space legs when you come back you find you are actually walking down the hall at an angle because you have to recalibrate to not moving all over the place.”
These astronauts are examples of how prolong space travel affects them physically and the hard work required to get back to normal physical health.
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Space tourist Dennis Tito unable to walk after landing.
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And lastly, space tourists. So far the list is Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen, Anousheh Ansari, Rick Tumlinson and Guy Laliberté. None of them can walk or remove themselves from the capsule after landing without help. Once removed they are placed in chairs and then toted off the landing field. They are never seen walking away. Most space tourists spend around 10 to 12 days on the ISS. That seems to be enough time to stop their ability to move independently and orient themselves upon landing and returning to normal life.
The Enigma Of Gemini And Apollo Astronauts
Incredibly, the after effects of being in weightlessness had no noticeable effects on the astronauts of the Gemini and Apollo programs.
The leading quote above is from page 294 of On The Shoulders Of Titans by Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood. The physical effects of returning to earth from space were well known to NASA early on. After being two weeks in space there little trouble for Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell walking on the deck of the carrier the USS Wasp after stepping off the rescue helicopter. The authors referred to it as a “miraculous thing” that they didn’t stumble and fall on their faces. And finally ending with the quote, “Apparently, there had been enough time for an adaptive phenomenon to take place.”
What kind of adaptive phenomenon would that have been? Seems like they are grasping for straws. They have no answer for how these two men who spent two weeks in weightlessness, with no exercise, immediately upon landing could walk without a fuss. Clearly, the adaptive phenomenon is not at work now. Astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists are incapacitated of walking upon landing. The alleged miracle is hung in the air, will never be officially answered, and it will remain as it is, a mystery.
(Likewise, the other returning Gemini astronauts had not problem walking on a carrier deck after arriving from their respective flights.)
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| Apollo 8 crew after landing in 1968 after spending 7 days in space. |
This ability to walk after along spaceflight, which apparently cannot be done now, is evident in the above photographs of the Apollo 8 crew stepping out of their chopper aboard the USS Yorktown. There are many other photos of the astronauts being greeted by the captain and crew. Everybody is smiling and nobody is having any issues adjusting to gravity. It is as if they never left earth.
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| Apollo 13 crew right after landing. |
This ability to walk after along spaceflight, which apparently cannot be done now, is evident in the above photograph of the Apollo 13 crew stepping out of their chopper aboard the USS Iwo Jima. There are many other photos of the astronauts showing them on deck during a prayer service, shaking hands with the Iwo Jima’s captain and officers and having a dinner with the officers and crew of the ship. Everybody is smiling and nobody is having any issues adjusting to gravity. It is as if they never left earth.
While their mission was cut short, lasting only 5 days, that is apparently enough time to disable the ability to walk upon return to earth. This was experienced by Russian cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko in 1967 who could not walk after landing from a 5 day mission. Other Russian missions, such as Soyuz 9 in 1970, both cosmonauts after an 18 day mission could not walk till 6 days after landing. Except for long stays on the ISS and select space shuttle missions, no NASA astronaut has these issues.
How did the astronauts walk on the moon?
In Closing
I am disappointed to conclude that it appears that the Gemini and Apollo Astronauts were not in space as long as has been officially reported. The effects of zero G are well documented and known for over 50 years. The idea that these astronauts, especially the Gemini crews, shown no evidence of physical problems makes no sense. They should have had issues. But we see these men returning from space without as much as a hitch in their giddyup. This is the closest thing I have seen regarding fraud in the United States space program.
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Astronaut Anne McClain being helped out of capsule after landing.
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End Notes
Gemini 7 was launched in 1965 and at the time was the longest NASA space orbital mission lasting 14 days.
On The Shoulders Of Titans is an in-house NASA publication documenting the history of the Gemini program.
At the time of her interview, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti set the 200 day record for the longest period in space for a European woman astronaut. Record broken in 2017 by Peggy Whitson.
Zero Gravity and Microgravity are interchangeable. It appears that zero-G has fallen out of favor.
Apollo 11 astronauts Neal Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin spent 6 days in space before landing. Did the 1/6 gravity help them with walking on the moon? Micheal Collins did not land but was in space for a total of 10 days. He had no issues leaving the spacecraft for rescue or walking afterward. But the space tourists spending 10 days in space do.
If it takes a year to travel to Mars, how are the astronauts going to walk when they get there? They would need an artificial gravity system for the trip. Is that in development?
Update
12/04/19
2006 Space tourist Anousheh Ansari’s blog describing not being able to walk after spending 11 days in space.
http://spaceblog.xprize.org/2006/10/05/second-birth/
"U.S. space agency NASA announced in June that it plans to allow two private citizens a year to stay at the ISS at a cost of about $35,000 per night for up to a month. The first mission could be as early as 2020."
We shall see of the latest batch of space tourists can walk after landing.
http://news.trust.org/item/20191202002950-4ux9n
Sources
On The Shoulders Of Titans by Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood. Available free as a PDF from nasa.gov. Kindle and paperback versions are available on Amazon.
Samantha Cristoforetti
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/11708381/Record-breaking-astronaut-Samantha-Cristoforetti.html
Dr. Anna Fisher
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/06/23/space-tourists-could-struck-astro-sickness-warns-nasa-astronaut/
Russian cosmonauts not being able to walk after landing.
https://www.aulis.com/apollo-soyuz13.htm
