In the Bag

When a long distance space traveler of the future returns to the gravity of earth, will his heart still be up to the job of pumping blood through his body? After weeks, months or years in the resistanceless atmosphere of space, might it be out of training? To head off such a deconditioning, Lockheed Aircraft Corp.--under contract to the Air Force --last week announced development of the inelegantly titled Lower Body Negative Pressure device.

The LBNP looks like an oil drum and can be fastened tightly at the waist. Made of rubberized, aluminum-lined canvas, it creates an airtight bag for the body's bottom half. Air is pumped out to create a partial vacuum. Since cabin air pressure is therefore greater on the body's upper half, some blood is forced into the lower part--approximating the effect of gravity--and the heart must make an earthlike extra effort to keep blood moving down below.

If tests in space prove its efficacy, future astronauts will probably spend part of their waking and sleeping hours in the LBNP. And they will work out in it as well. Lockheed already has an exercise-cycle that fits comfortably inside the bag so that astronauts can pedal to get the blood moving more rapidly.

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