Free Republic

Dec 11, 2004 Air Force Base Re-Enacts Rocket Sled Test 50 Years Ago That Propelled Earth's Fastest Human The Associated Press HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - A rocket-propelled sled blasted down a track to re-enact a test 50 years earlier that helped prove humans could survive the gravitational stresses of spaceflight. On Friday, a mannequin was strapped into the sled instead of Air Force Col. John P. Stapp, who became the fastest man on Earth through the Dec. 10, 1954, test at Holloman Air Force Base. Stapp, who died in 1999, had volunteered to be strapped onto Sonic...