Product Code Database
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.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
In 1954, Prather rejoined the United States Navy in the Navy Medical Corps. He was stationed in Pensacola and then transferred to San Diego, CA. While at San Diego, Prather completed courses in Aviation Medicine and qualifications in fixed wing and helicopter aircraft. He was stationed as a medical doctor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La until 1957, when he was assigned to the U.S. Naval Air Station in Port Lyautey, Morocco as Flight Surgeon for VR-24. In 1959, Prather was reassigned to the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
/ref>
The balloon, built by Winzen Research of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was constructed of polyethylene plastic only thick. The balloon envelope was the largest that had ever been successfully launched, expanding to 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 Window blind, but otherwise open to space. Balloon, parachute, gondola, and a trailing antenna made a craft close to tall.
The primary objective of the flight was to test the Mark IV full-pressure suit. The suit was manufactured by B. F. Goodrich of neoprene and weighed only . The Mark IV suit overcame problems of weight, bulk, ventilation, air and water tightness, mobility, temperature control, and survival capabilities so well that NASA selected a modified version for use by the Project Mercury astronauts. Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather were exposed to temperatures as low as when they passed at 8:10 am. Strato-Lab V reached maximum elevation of at 9:47 am, where the temperature was and the air pressure was . 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.
The flight lasted 9 hours 54 minutes and covered a horizontal distance of . 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 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.
|
|
