Matus1976 Space Station design notes

Relevant Quotes to space station design from G. Harry Stine - Living In Space

LIVING IN SPACE

G. Harry Stine

2 - WHAT IS A HUMAN BEING

"The human being evolved as a hunting mammal who is happiest if the cultural environment contains space to move around in. There surroundings should be as "natural" as possible or give the impression of being natural. They should include other animals, if possible, and green growing plants." pg 19

3 - ATMOSPHERES

"A human being at rest consumes approximately a half-pint of oxygen gas per minute at a standard temperature and pressure (STP) but can demand as much as 8 pints per minute while running" pg 28

"Pressure measurements made inside human lungs have shown that the pressure of carbon dioxide on the blood side of alveolar membrane is approximately 40 millimeters of mercury or 0.7735 psi. This is about one-fourth as much as the partial pressure in the Earth's atmosphere at STP. As long as the oxygen partial pressure in the lungs is greater than the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, oxygen will flow inward across the membrane to replace the carbon dioxide, and the carbon dioxide will flow outward so it can be expelled from the body with the exhaled breath." pg 29

"Although the human brain comprises only about two percent of the human's body weight, it requires 25 percent of the oxygen inhaled during respiration. Within the brain, the 'higher functions' or the most recent evolutionary portions are the parts initially affected by hypoxia." pg 30

"However, the bends are rarely observed with changes in pressure of 7 psi or less" pg 38

"Space shuttle crew members planning to engage in extravehicular activities (EVA's) in space suits are required to spend at least three hours breathing pure oxygen, This flushes nearly all of the nitrogen from their bodies before they venture outside in space suits for an EVA. This precaution was taken to be absolutely certain of preventing the bends in the event that the space suit developed a leak and lost pressure. The space shuttle space suit operated at a pressure of 5 psi while the Orbiter cabin was 14.7 psi. Bends were possible. It wasn't possible to rush any astronaut who suffered from the bends back to Earth. Therefore, three hours of pre-breathing were required by NASA aerospace medical experts to ensure that about 99 percent of the nitrogen was flushed thus eliminating the possibility of the bends" pg 38

"Summary:
To recapitulate the human requirements for pressure and atmospheric composition necessary for breathing and thus life:
1. Humans require gaseous oxygen at a pressure of about 3 psi
2. Carbon dioxide is exhaled by humans as a product of cellular combustion.
3. A careful balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in a breathable atmosphere must be maintained so the human body can maintain the proper chemical balance.
4. Nitrogen is a diluent gas in the normal Earth's atmosphere, but its presence can create severe problems with evolved gas (the bends) if the atmosphere pressure is suddenly decreased.
5. Any excess of any type of atmospheric gas can be hazardous.
6. Too much or too little atmosphere pressure can be hazardous.
" pg 39

4 - KEEPING COOL

"Biologically, two temperatures are critical to humans: 42 degrees F and 89 degrees F. This is because the human body loses most of the heat of metabolism not by sweating but by radiating it as infrared. Twenty percent of this comes from the arms, hands, and fingers. Regardless of the relative humidity, humans maintain their body temperature by radiation between 42 degrees F and 89 degrees F. The circulatory system is the main system that transfers heat from the body to the skin where it can be radiated into the surrounding environment. Blood returns from the fingers, hands, and arms through veins wrapped around arteries. This venous blood not only radiates heat through the skin but cools the outgoing arterial blood. However, when the ambient temperature rises above 89 degrees F, the body can't radiate enough heat fast enough. Therefore, the venous blood returns to the heart through an emergency system, a vein network closer to the surface of the skin that also supplies water to the sweat glands. Below 42 degrees F, the venous blood also shifts to the emergency system to warm the fingers, hands, and arms." pg 44

"At a temperature of 95 degrees F, a person is uncomfortable at any humidity" pg 44

"It isn't the ambient temperature that affects a person as much as it is the inability to get rid of body heat" pg 45

"At rest, the human body gives off nearly 1,600 calories per minute. During active periods, the thermal output jumps to about 2,900 calories per minute. In comparison, the human body gives off about as much heat as a 100 watt light bulb. It's easy to understand, therefore, why a room full of people grows warm just from the accumulating body heat of everyone there" pg 49

"When resting, about 78 percent of the heat is given off by normal heat transfer processes such as conduction, convection, and radiation. 22 percent is given off by the evaporation of perspiration. While working, 45 percent of the heat is lost by normal heat transfer methods and 44 percent through perspiration. The remaining 11 percent goes toward the actual accomplishment of physical work. Calculations based on these numbers indicate that the human being is approximately 11 percent efficient or about as efficient as an internal combustion gasoline engine" pg 50

"A temperature of 120 degrees F is tolerable for about an hour but is considered to be above the range of continual physical or mental activity. Actually, mental activities begin to slow down, errors begin to creep in, and complex performance begins to deteriorate at temperatures above 85 degrees F. Physical labor becomes extremely fatiguing at temperature above 75 degrees F. On the low end of the temperature scale, physical stiffness of the arms and legs Begins at 50 degrees F. A low humidity of 15 percent or less at any temperature can cause drying of external body fluids and the membranes of the nose and mouth. On the high end, most people generally consider humidness in excess of 90 percent to be intolerable." pg 52

[Optimal temperature is between 50 - 75 degrees F, preferred temp between 62.5 - 70 degrees F, and optimal humidity between 30 - 50%]

"The environment must have a temperature between 65 degrees F and 90 degrees F with a relative humidity range between 30 percent and 50 percent" pg 55

5 - ACCELERATION

"An Acceleration of from 18 to 23 g's causes structural damage, especially to the spinal column." pg 68

"Up to 30 g's can be tolerated in the supine position without structural damage. Although head and arm movements become impossible at 6 g's, the wrists, hands, and fingers can move at accelerations up to 12 g's." pg 68

"...Its unlikely that humans will ever encounter accelerations of more than 3 g's in spaceships because their acceleration will be specifically limited to this level for the comfort of human occupants." pg 69

"If one second is required to go from 1 g to 10 g's acceleration, the rate of onset is 9 g's per second. This is a mild jolt. Applying 100 g's at the rate of 1,500 g's per second for a hundredth of a second is equivalent to the force of a fist banging on a table. However, 100 g's applied at 1,500 g's per second to the entire human body requires that the person be properly supported or protected against this sort of a jolt. As the rate of onset approaches 3,000 g's per second, extreme crash conditions are involved and physical damage such as the rupture of large blood vessels can become lethal. " pg 69

"The author helped instrument two healthy college football players with devices to measure the acceleration and rate of onset they experienced when blocking and tackling one another. They experienced 70 g accelerations at a rate of onset of 2,000 g's per second for as long as .2 seconds. This data, taken in 1960, helped establish the Air Force criteria for ejection seats and escape capsules used in military aircraft." pg 69

"The absolute top of the acceleration tolerance spectrum is an oddity. A paratrooper whose parachute had failed landed on his back in the soft dirt of a recently plowed field and walked away with only a sprained wrist. He'd survived an estimated 200 g's for 0.015 seconds." pg 70

"Protecting a human against acceleration and jolt involves proper cushioning and support to distribute the forces over as much of the body as possible." pg 70

"It has continually amazed researches to discover that human beings are more rugged than the devices they travel in. Studies of human acceleration and jolt tolerances have shown that, in nearly all cases, properly restrained and supported people have withstood crash forces only to be crushed by the vehicle structure collapsing on them. This has led to the re-design of automobiles as well as airplanes. And it's one area where aerospace research has paid off in everyone's lives." pg 70

6 - WEIGHTLESSNESS

"A flight from the Earth to the moon at a constant boost of 0.1 g's would require less than 11 hours and the maximum velocity at "turnover" would be 12.1 miles per second or 43,524 miles per hour. Constant-boost flights really cut the solar system down to manageable size in terms of trip times. A flight to Mars under the worse possible planetary alignment conditions would require about 10 days under a constant boost of only 0.1 g's. At a constant 1 g boost, a Mars trip is only 4.5 days." pg 74

"For short periods of time up to a year, people have no problem living in weightlessness. Some people, however, require several hours to several days to adapt to the weightless condition." pg 78

"No one who has gone into space to date has been unable to adapt to weightlessness within a day, although some people have had a very difficult initial few hours." pg 81

"Post-flight medical examinations of astronauts and cosmonauts upon their return to Earth has revealed an increase in heart rate by 10 to 20 beats per minute, changes in muscle reflexes, and pooling of blood in the lower abdomen and legs. Initial concerns that long-term living in weightlessness might lead to irreversible changes in the cardiovascular system coupled with decreased effectiveness of the body's resistance to disease because of changes in blood chemistry have largely been proved to be unfounded as more people spent longer periods in space. However, all of these physiological changes caused by weightlessness will be monitored for years to come. Therapies for combating them will undoubtedly be developed if they turn out to be serious. Please keep in mind that all the data aren't in yet and won't be for decades. The space environment is new to humankind. People who travel and work in space will continue to be studied to provide this data. And weightlessness is one of the things that astronauts, cosmonauts, and other space travelers look forward to experiencing. Said Astronaut Dr. Joe Kerwin of the Skylab 2 crew, "It was a continuous and pleasant surprise to me to find out how easy it was to live in zero-g and how good we felt."" pg 85

7 - RADIATION

"When high-energy ionizing radiation collides with atoms or molecules, fission of destruction of the molecule can occur." pg 86

"The Earth's magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind, deflecting most of the solar wind particles." pg 90

[radiation present in space]

"Therefore the same principle applies to any spaceship or facility traveling at high speed in space and encountering charged subatomic particles. The encounters will cause the generation of ionizing radiation because the facility collides with protons and electrons [both charged particles] of the solar wind or those trapped in the Earth's Van Allen belts. When these charged particles slam into the metallic outer hull of a spaceship or facility, the collision...produces radiation by bremsstrahlung"

[radiation present in space]

"Ionizing radiation is of two sorts: (1) high velocity, high energy charged particles of the sort just discussed, and (2) high energy uncharged photons in the electromagnetic spectrum" pg 92

[radiation present in space]

"Some effects may manifest themselves in the range of 5 to 15 Hz where man-made e-m radiation may interfere with the 'biological clocks' that are like the timing circuits in a computer this extremely-low-frequency radiation may interfere with the 8.73 herts variation in the Earth's magnetic field that has been termed the "Zeitgeber" or "time give" when sensed by the human nervous system. "

[magnetic field effects on human body, skeptical]

"Another unit called the rem - an acronym for 'rad equivalent, mammal' - is a unit reflecting the ability of ionizing radiation to produce damage in the living tissue or a mammalian cell" pg 98

"Body area exposed is also a factor. The entire human body can absorb up to 200 rads without a fatal outcome. However, as the whole-body dose approaches 450 rads, the death rate becomes about 50 percent. A whole-body dose of more than 600 rads in a short time is always fatal. But many thousands of rads can be delivered to a human body for cancer therapy over a long period of time if only small portions of the body are irradiated. If the bowels and the bone marrow are adequately protected by shielding, an individual may survive what might otherwise be a fatal whole-body dose" pg 99

"
Each year, the average human being is subjected to the following dose rates in millirads per year (mr/yr):

Natural Radioactive material in the bones: 34 my/yr
Cosmic rays (at sea level): 30 mr/yr
Natural radioactivity of the surroundings: 48 mr/yr
Medical X rays: 75 mr/yr
Radioactivity from man made sources: about 12 mr/yr
TOTAL: 200 mr / yr
" pg 99

"If a person gets too much high-energy ionizing radiation, so many cells may be affected that they can't replace themselves. Or the radiation may affect cells so that their natural functions are disrupted, turning them into rampaging ever-growing, all consuming cancer cells." pg 100

"Large but sub lethal doses affect both the rate of mitosis (cell division) and the synthesis of DNA. This can lead to diminished production of new cells in the tissues that normally undergo continual renewal-bone marrow and the gonads, for example. Some cells can be so badly damaged by ionizing radiation that they may continue to divide but produce abnormal progeny. Some of these altered cells may be cancerous" pg 102

"measurements made of the type and amount of radiation in space indicate that this unseen hazard definitely poses a problem for unprotected humans in space" pg 102

"Because different forms of ionizing radiation with different energies may have different effects upon organic tissue, the radiation dose from each must be multiplied by the RBE. The product then is a measure of the danger of the particular kind of radiation and is usually presented in rems.

Name --------RBE ------------Source
----------------------------------
X rays& ------1 ---------------Radiation belts, solar radiation, and bremsstrahlung electrons
Gamma rays

Electrons
1.0 MeV ------1 --------------Radiation belts
0.1 Mev -------1.08

Protons
100 MeV -----1-2 ------------Cosmic rays, inner-radiation belts, and solar cosmic rays
1.5 MeV ------8.5
0.1 MeV ------10

Nuetrons
0.05 eV
(thermal) -------2.8 ------------Nuclear interactions in the sun
0.0001 MeV ---2.2
0.005 MeV ----2.4
0.02 MeV -----5
0.5 MeV ------10.2
1.0 MeV ------10.5
10.0 MeV -----6.4

Alpha Particles
5.0 MeV ------15 ------------Cosmic Rays
1.0 MeV ------20

Heavy Primaries * Cosmic Rays

*Damaging power of heavy primaries varies widely and is measured in terms of how many chemical bonds per unit of body mass are broken, thereby giving an indictation of the tissue damage sustained.

(From "Space Settlements, A Design Study," NASA publication SP-413, Government printing office, 1977.)

"[Cosmic Rays] About 80 percent are hydrogen nuclei or protons; 16 percent are helium nuclei consisting of two protons and two neutrons with an electric charge of +2; and 4 percent are made up of the nuclei of heavy atoms such as Iron. Cosmic ray energies are extremely high, ranging from 100 MeV to several thousand MeV. The source of cosmic rays is unknown, although some probably originate in the Sun while the remainder may be from elsewhere in the galaxy because they come from all directions in space." pg 104

"The light, fast, and most common cosmic-ray particles are the protons and the alpha particles. They have up to 20 times the ionizing potential of X rays, but they have a tendency to pass through organic tissue so rapidly that there is little time to cause ionization. The slow, heavy primaries are the most destructive to organic tissue because they leave a broad trail of ionization that kills cells. When it comes to cosmic radiation, the ionizing power increases as the particle energy decreases, within limits" pg 105

"All e-m radiation and especially its ionizing forms can be stopped by varying thickness of material or mass. X rays can be stopped by a few inches of lead. Alpha particles can be stopped by a sheet of paper. The intensity of high-energy ionizing radiation such as gamma rays decreases rapidly as the total thickness of mass through which they must pass increases. These are the types of ionizing radiation that are easy to stop. Both primary and secondary cosmic rays are difficult to stop because of the high energies involved. And when primaries plow into matter, they produce secondaries that can be made up of very energetic charged particles as well as gamma rays and X rays. Neutrons are difficult to stop because they're electrically neutral. Some elements such as beryllium will absorb neutrons. Because of bremsstrahlung radiation, the best way to protect humans against ionizing radiation in space is to have a spaceship or facility just thick enough to keep air in and ultraviolet radiation out." pg 106

"Nuclear explosions produce nuclear radiation that can destroy or damage electronic circuits as well as human beings. The armed services conducted research on how to protect or "harden" electrical and electronic devices against radiation. By 1985, they had produced a 64 bit computer memory chip that could withstand more than a million rads of ionizing radiation." pg 106

"According to the DNA, it's possible to 'harden' a human being by several means. The "prophylactic" measures - ones taken ahead of time - start with dietary supplements rich in green vegetables as well as massive doses of Vitamin A (retinol) and Vitamen E (tocopherol). Both are fat-soluble anti-oxidants found in green, leafy vegetables. Together, these two vitamins produce a 30 percent reduction in the effects of ionizing radiation in the cell." pg 107

8 - NUTRITION AND SANITATION

"Because of the accumulated knowledge of aircraft practice and the limited experience gained from the NASA space shuttle Orbiter and early space stations such as Skylab, Sulyut, and Mir, as well as from experimental closed systems that have been built and operated on Earth since 1957, a firm foundation exists for engineering closed nutrition/sanitation systems in spaceships and facilities" pg 110

"The average adult human body requires between 1,800 and 3,600 kilo-calories per day. The minimum acceptable caloric intake is about 1,600 calories per day on a long term basis...The normal daily caloric requirement for male adults is 21 Calories per pound of desired body weight, while the adult female is 18 Calories per pound. Young, growing humans often require as much as twice the normal daily caloric intake." pg 111

"An operable water-recovery system properly maintained and sanitized will be able to provide more than enough fresh, clean, potable water because, as discussed earlier, the human body produces water as a by-product of cellular combustion or metabolism. Handling of excess water in the environment of space living may be more of a problem than getting enough of it" pg 112

"The two types of vitamins are fat soluble and water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins can be stored in the human body while any excess of water soluble vitamins is eliminated through urination of defecation" pg 113

"Food is always a major morale factor. If the food isn't' acceptable, morale deteriorates and performance drops. People may even become nauseated and unable to eat what food there is. Variety is a major acceptability criterion. Any menu plan duplicated in less than fourteen days becomes boring and therefore unacceptable, according to the decades of experience of the United States Navy from submarine crews." pg 116

"In the early decades of space living in Earth orbit, people will be totally dependant on terrestrial sources for their food supply" pg 117

"Approximately 8.3 pounds of food and water per person per day are required. However, most food contains a large portion of water, which weighs eight pounds per gallon. Abundant water exists in space facilities because of human metabolism." pg 117

"Pioneering experiments in 'astro-agriculture' were made in the 1980's by Carl N. Hodges and his colleagues at the Environmental Research Laboratory of the University of Arizona. Plants were grown without soil on the inner surfaces of rotating drums...A 1983 study by the Boeing Company for NASA showed that growing 97 percent of the necessary food in an earth-orbiting facility occupied by as few as twelve people over a fifteen-year period could save at least $68 million in 1983 dollars." pg 118

[create a module that is closed, but can be added to a larger closed system]

"In the twentieth century, nitrites and nitrates of sodium and potassium were widely used to cure meats and other foods because these chemicals inhibit the growth of microbes, especially Clostridium botulinum, found naturally in lakes and soils, which causes botulism food poisoning. Nitrates become nitrites and are therefore used in foods that are stored for long periods. Nitrates are converted to nitrites by the chemical action of human saliva. The use of nitrites and other food preservatives has been questioned because some studies indicated that nitrous acid created by nitrites in the human stomach's own acidic environment could cause changes in DNA that might lead to cancer and birth defects. Other studies indicated that nitrites combine with amine compounds normally found in people as well as in some foods to form nitrosamines that are carcinogens. However, many foods contain chemicals that are known to be hazardous and poisonous. For example, shrimp contain high levels of arsenic. Onions are full of highly complex carcinogen-like chemicals. Cauliflower contains a poisonous thiocyanate. Food additives and preservatives, whether used for preservation or cosmetic purposes, aren't necessarily bad chemicals. A person may be forced to choose between a slight risk of cancer or a very high probability of food poisoning." pg 120

9 - WORKING IN SPACE

"To best work in weightlessness, a person must use foot restraints. These hold the feet firmly to the "floor" as gravity does on Earth, thus permitting the normal use of hands and arms. The human body already possesses the necessary muscles and nervous system programming to overcome the reaction forces involved while using tools or otherwise working in weightlessness provided that the feet are held firmly in place" pg 131

"During sleep, the body's energy expenditure is about 65 Calories (Cal) per hour. At rest lying down, it rises to 80 Cal/hr and, when sitting up, to 100 Cal/hr. During light exercise, this jumps to as much as 200 Cal/hr and, during heavy physical work, to 500 Cal/hr. Under normal conditions the human body is only 11 percent efficient as a heat engine. This means that 89 percent of the metabolic heat output shows up as increased perspiration rate, increased respiration, and slightly elevated body temperature" pg 135

[65 Cal/hr --> 500 Cal/hr]

"But any life support system for small space cabins and space suits must also have adequate reserve capacity to handle the times when space workers are dumping as much as 400 Cal/hr or more into the immediate environment" pg 135

"Advanced space suits may not be tailored to specific users as NASA space suits are. Like clothing, they will come in standard sizes--perhaps small, medium, and large. They will also have the life-support capacity to handle 500 Cal/hr for at least an hour, which is the length of time an average person can work at the heat expenditure rate of 500 Cal/hr. The life support system is contained in a backpack because it can't be distributed around the space suit and because the backpack interferes least with the weare'r movements and working activities. The space suit must also be easy to get into and out of like the NASA space-shuttle suit. Ease of donning a space suit is critical in an emergency." pg 136

"Simple extensions of human anatomy have been operated in space and will continue to be important in space work for decades to come" pg 140

[Remote manipulators]

10 - DESIGNING FOR HUMAN BEINGS

"A medieval Englishman, based on the sizes of the armor that has survived, was about 5' 7" tall. In World War II, this had increased to 5' 8" tall. Today's 95th percentile male army soldier is 5'9" tall. " pg 151

[SCAN GRAPHS FROM pg 152 and 153 on human ergonomics]

"As intensity, duration, contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio increase, the time required for a person to sense a stimulus decreases up to the point where the particular sense organ is operating at maximum efficiency. Beyond that point, there is no decrease in perception time" pg 156

[reflexes]

"The most important sense organ for space activities is the eye. It requires 20 milliseconds (0.020 seconds) to respond to a visual signal under optimum conditions of light intensity, duration, and contrast. The transmittal of this information through the retina and optic nerve to the brain requires an additional 2 milliseconds. Once the nerve signal reaches the brain, the cortex requires about 13 milliseconds for excitation. This total of 35 milliseconds is required for the perception of a visual signal. " pg 156

[reflexes]

"Eye-hand actions for simple tasks are about 20 percent faster than eye-foot actions. For a right-handed person, the eye-hand reaction time is about 3 percent faster for the right hand than for the left hand" pg 157

[reflexes]

[SCAN graph on pg 157 on human reaction times. Note, auditory and tactile are the lowest]

"Therefore, computer systems that are much faster are used to supplement human perception and reaction in high performance military airplanes as well as spaceships." pg 158

"The human operator then commands only changes either to the computer or, by overriding the computer, directly to the machine" pg 159

['fly by wire']

11 - RECREATION IN SPACE

"Recent research findings, some of them still controversial, indicate that the basic inner human biological clock-equivalent to the internal timer or clock of a computer-may be paced by the 8.73 hertz cycle of the Earth's magnetic field. [the] ionosphere acts like a mirror to certain high frequency electromagnetic signals. Basically, the Earth is a huge electromagnetic resonance chamber. Its resonant frequency is 8.73 hertz, called the Schuman Resonance after the European scientist who discovered it. This frequency may vary from about 5 to 15 hertz, depending upon what solar particles are doing to the ionosphere. Dr. Siegnot Lang of Germany discovered that the Schuman Resonance is sensed by the human nervous system because the Earth's magnetic field is nine orders of magnitude stronger than a nerve impulse. The Schuman Resonance provides the basic timeing singla that sets the human body's internal clock, which is why Lang called it the "Zeitgeber" or "time giver" pg 170

[questionable, but notable]

"Normal daily space living follows an 8-8-8 sequence--8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation, and 8 hours of sleep. At times, because of unique situations this can go to 12-4-8, but there should never be less than 4 hours for "unwinding" and 8 hours of sleep unless an extreme emergency occurs" pg 173

"Sleep sacks have been used in space since the days of Skylab in 1973" pg 174

"Some astronauts reported sleeping in weightlessness was so restful that they required only 6 to 7 hours of sleep instead of the usual 8 that are necessary on earth" pg 174

"Space Polo. In a large weightless compartment with a goal located at either end and teams of players pitted against one another in the task of getting the ball into a guarded goal, this game is fast and three dimensional. Football helmets may be required because, in such a weightless melee, it's possible to get kicked in the face or head. Other protection such as shoulder, elbow, and knee pads may also be required as the competition grown more intense. Throwing the ball itself results in the thrower exhibiting a reaction force unless there's a wall nearby. Personal motion is the result of pushing against a wall or an opposing player, which act causes the pushed player to go sailing off in the opposite direction." pg 179

[space polo]

[astrobatics (find picture) ]

"Russian space pioneer Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovksi wrote, 'Earth is the cradle of reason, but one does not remain in the cradle forever' " pg 181

"In the 1990's the Japanese conducted several market studies of space tourism among people in the United States and Canada. As a result, they have identified their primary market target for space tourism: Honeymoon couples." pg 185

"This is why extreme measures must be taken in the early years of space living to prevent communicable diseases from getting into space facilities" pg 185

[each ring should be isolated hermetically, having its own life support systems. A lot more attention is payed toward destroying airborne microbes, high air turnover rate through UV filters]

"However, because of biological materials made in the weightlessness of space, it's very likely that immunizations and specifics for nearly every known disease, including the common cold, will be available. These space pharmaceuticals will ensure that space facilities remain the healthiest of all human environments and will do much to stem the tide of sickness and disease on earth where, because of the larger biosphere, it's more difficult to control the total environment." pg 188

"The design and function of space facilities or the nature of some spaceships and flights may require that people be provided with a personal hygiene kit such as the ones pioneered in the NASA space shuttle program" pg 189

"The Kittinger Syndrome or "vac-bite" caused by accidental exposure to part of the body to vacuum" pg 193

[typical space outfits are highly abrasion resistant '2nd skins' helping to prevent the spread of disease through injury, and to reduce injury]

"It's impossible to protect the world from idiots or to protect idiots from themselves. The only practical approach that can be taken within the bounds of reasonable costs, efficiencies, and reliability is to design equipment, tools, and other devices that are difficult to operate incorrectly" pg 196

"However, although some sort of space police force or military organization will be necessary to enforce space law and to provide the necessary physical coercion to back up ruling of space courts in resolving controversies." pg 200

"Although plants have been genetically developed for growth in weightlessness, many plants that people want to grow in spaceplexes exhibit a strong geotropism, the inherent tendency for the roots to go downward and the stalks upward." pg 203

"Long stays in weightlessness may make it necessary to centrifuge at least the living quarters to prevent physiological changes that may result from stays of several years in weightlessness" pg 204

"Coriolis forces, gravity gradients, and problems with human tolerance to rotation rates have fewer physiological and psychological effects as the diameter of spaceplex increases." pg 208

"Designers who specialize in marine vessels or that almost extinct field of railway sleeping cars have come closest to knowing how to design for volume rather than floor space." pg 211

"Although engineers have to make design trade-offs between single wall self supporting structures and multi-cellular enclosures, the internal bulkheads of smaller personal compartments help to distribute the loads and, with only a small mass penalty, also provide pressure integrity and safety similar to the watertight compartments of an ocean-going vessel." pg 212

"Although the way personal living quarters in space is designed may at first seem strange, people quickly grow used to it. At first, their earthbound ways of thinking may tell them it's too small. However, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and every nook and cranny can be used in the weightless environment." pg 212

[zero G design]

[scan image of various types of restraints and movement aides on pg 213]

"If the personal compartment doesn't have a view port, the common room certainly does. People like to look out the window in space and watch the world go by. So all space complexes have as many of these as possible, in spite of the fact that it is impossible to keep them from leaking a little bit. View ports are part of the human side of space living because of human needs" pg 214

[scan image on pg 219 of 'chart showing the personal space and volume required by people']

"A quasi military organization isn't necessarily a bad way to run a spaceplex. Naval forces of what world over many centuries developed highly successful maritime institutions relating to the adequate performance, safety, health, and comfort of large groups of highly trained people living and working in isolated, dangerous environments. They are pragmatic experts in the psychology of people living closely together in isolated, dangerous places for long periods of time." pg 225

[manufacturing]

"Everyone on Earth belongs to several social institutions - church, service club, social club, hobby club, professional society, tribe, local and state governments, and even international organizations. People who go into space to live and work will take these memberships with them." pg 229

15 - THE GIANT LEAP

"The late Dr. Herman Kahn observed, "Two hundred years ago the human race almost everywhere was few, poor, and largely at the mercy of the forces of nature whereas two hundred years hence, barring some perverse combination of bad lick and bad management, the human should be almost everywhere numerous, rich, and largely in control of the forces of nature." pg 232

"If, as a result of Kahn's "Perverse combination of bad luck and bad management," a catastrophe of an astronomical (asteroid impact) or human (thermo-nuclear war or plague) nature occurs, human genetic and intellectual seeds may survive in space in people ready to return like gods from the skies to rebuild a shattered world." pg 233

"The next step will be the expansion of humanity to the point where it could survive even if the Sun itself explodes or dies" pg 234