The Limb-Less Phantom Astronaut

Before the United States and the Soviet Union put a man on the moon, they sent missions with live animals to outer space. Neither nation would send humans before ensuring they could do it safely.

Since then, many strange objects have been taken into space, one of which is the Detailed Secondary Objective 469, also known as Fred, or the Phantom Torso.

Fred was a 3-foot high, 95-pound mock-up of an average male body. It consisted of an actual human skull and torso filled with artificial organs and skin composed of unique materials that resembled authentic human tissue.

The skull was equipped with a highly advanced and sensible radiation monitoring system assembled with hundreds of sensors to measure the amount of radiation astronauts would be exposed to in space.

Although Fred provoked divisive reactions due to its ethical implications, the peculiar object quickly became an indispensable instrument for NASA in the 1990s...
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Видео The Limb-Less Phantom Astronaut канала Dark Space