Victor Prather

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Doctor

Victor A. Prather Jr.
Prather prior to Strato-Lab V balloon flight.
Birth nameVictor A. Prather Jr.
Nickname(s)Bud
Born(1926-06-04)June 4, 1926
Lapeer, Michigan, U.S.[citation needed]
DiedMay 4, 1961(1961-05-04) (aged 34)
At sea in the Gulf of Mexico
Buried
Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service1943–1945, 1954–1961
Rank Lieutenant Commander
AwardsDistinguished Flying Cross, Harmon Trophy

Lieutenant Commander Victor Alonzo Prather Jr. (June 4, 1926 – May 4, 1961) was an American flight surgeon famous for taking part in "Project RAM", a government project to develop the space suit. On May 4, 1961, Prather drowned during the helicopter transfer after the landing of the Strato-Lab V balloon flight, which set an altitude record for manned balloon flight which stood until 2012.[1]

Life

Prather was born on June 4, 1926, in

Honolulu, Hawaii from 1943 to 1945. He returned to Tufts at the end of WWII and attended Tufts University School of Medicine, graduating there in 1952.[2]

In 1954, Prather rejoined the

Port Lyautey, Morocco as Flight Surgeon for VR-24. In 1959, Prather was reassigned to the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland
.

Project RAM

In 1960, Prather was transferred to Project RAM, a government program to test

underwater, and later commissioned to see how the suits would function at extremely high altitudes
.

The flight

On May 4, 1961, at 7:08 am, Victor Prather, along with

Mark IV full-pressure suit.[3][4][5]

The balloon, built by

Minneapolis, Minnesota, was constructed of polyethylene plastic only .001 inches (0.025 mm) thick. The 10 million cubic feet (280,000 m3) balloon envelope was the largest that had ever been successfully launched, expanding to 300 feet (91 m) in diameter when fully inflated. Beneath the balloon hung a large parachute and then the gondola. To control temperature, the gondola was protected by special venetian blinds, but otherwise open to space. Balloon, parachute, gondola, and a trailing antenna made a craft close to 500 feet (150 m) tall.[6]

The primary objective of the flight was to test the Mark IV full-pressure suit. The suit was manufactured by

air pressure was .09 pounds per square inch (620 Pa). At that altitude without a space suit, a person would lose consciousness in seconds. The May 4 flight was the most severe test of the Mark IV suit that was ever conducted.[7]

The flight lasted 9 hours 54 minutes and covered a horizontal distance of 140 miles (230 km).[8] As they descended, the balloonists opened their face masks when they reached an elevation where they could breathe. Strato-Lab V landed at 4:02 pm in the Gulf of Mexico. The mission plan was to use a boat to retrieve the balloonists in the event that the gondola landed in the water instead of on the flight deck of the carrier. This had been rehearsed. However, without orders to do so, the crew in a hovering helicopter lowered a hook. Commander Ross invited Prather to go first, but he declined. Ross stepped into the hook contrary to proper procedure and slipped partially out of it, but he was able to recover without falling completely into the water. A few minutes later, when a hook was lowered to retrieve Prather, he stood on a float attached to the gondola and grasped the rescue line. When he stepped into the hook, the trailing foot pushed the gondola away, and he fell backwards three feet into the water. The helicopter crew assumed that the flight suit was watertight, which it would have been if the face plate was still closed, and did not effect an immediate rescue. Because the face plate was open, Prather's flight suit flooded, and he drowned before Navy divers could rescue him.[9][10][11]

After the flight

Shortly after Prather's death, President

Nicholas Piantanida claimed to have reached 123,800 feet (37,700 m) with his Strato Jump II balloon on February 2, 1966, and Felix Baumgartner reached 128,100 feet (39 044.88 meters) on 14 October 2012 as part of the Red Bull Stratos project. In ballooning, as in mountain climbing, completing the descent by the same method is required to set a record. Piantanida did not claim the balloon altitude record because he jettisoned his balloon at the flight ceiling and returned to Earth in the gondola without the balloon.[13] Similarly, Baumgartner jumped at the apex of his flight.[14] The third person, Alan Eustace
, reached an altitude of 136,000 feet (41,000 m) where he then performed a supersonic jump in 2014.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (1961) 'KN-C17848. President John F. Kennedy Presents Posthumous Medal for LCDR Victor A. Prather, United States Navy - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum'. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-KN-C17848.aspx
  2. ^ Highes, P (2000) 'Victor A. Prather'. http://dca.lib.tufts.edu/features/nrotc3/8.html
  3. ^ National Archives (1961) 'USN 1054273'. https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/USN-1054000/USN-1054273.html
  4. ^ Ryan, C (2012). "Daredevil descents: Free-falling from space". New Scientist.
  5. ^ "Balloonists Set Mark; One Killed". The New York Times. Vol. 110, no. 37722. May 5, 1961. pp. 1, 12. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  6. ^ Kennedy, Gregory P. "Touching Space: The Story of Project Manhigh". Archived from the original on April 14, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
  7. Naval History & Heritage Command. "Manned Space"
    (PDF). Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  8. ^ Jesper, Peter. "CIA Notable Flights and Achievements, Part 7". Retrieved December 29, 2009.
  9. ^ Herman, Jan (1995). "Stratolab: The Navy's High-Altitude Balloon Research". archive.org. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  10. National Geographic Magazine
    .
  11. ^ Mikesell, Alfred. "Account of Dr. Prather's death at US Navy Strato-Lab Mikesell No". Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  12. ^ NYT staff writer (October 19, 1962). "President Gives Harmon Trophies; Three Pilots and Widow of Another Get Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-12-29.
  13. ISBN 1-58834-141-0
    .
  14. ^ "Red Bull Stratos – freefall from the edge of space (live broadcast)". YouTube. 2012-10-14. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2012-10-14.

References

External links

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