[laker_dad]

Actually that's incorrect. Mach 9 is a velocity value, not an acceleration value. Anyone and anything can survive a constant velocity, no matter what the magnitude. The matter of getting to that velocity, on the other hand....

OK, if I remember my high school physics correctly, I think you mean SPEED. Velocity is a vector, and has a direction.

[demosthenes the elder]

well, according to my HS physics:
Distance = (d)
Time = (t)
Mass = (m)
Velocity (v) = d/t
Acceleration (a) = eeep! don't remember! ((v)final-(v)initial))/(t) ???
Force = m*a
A "vector" is defined by velocity and direction, not vice versa