Floating around in 1966 Raymond Byrd, a 1959 Semmes High School Graduate experiences weightless flight in a Zero-G flight, a parabolic flight experiment.
In 1961 the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announced the goal to be the first nation to land a man on the moon and bring him safely home. The Space Race was on. Much research and development had to take place to accomplish this goal.
The Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) in Pensacola Florida was doing research under the direction of Dr. Ashton Graybiel. Studies on the effects of weightlessness and acceleration on human balance, spatial orientation, physiology and performance helped prepare America's astronauts for manned space flights.
Raymond became a research team member under the team leader of Dr. Earl F. Miller II, Team leader of the Physiological Optics Branch, in 1966 through 1972 participating with parabolic flight experiments to create short periods of weightlessness.
Apollo 11 Astronauts, and many others; Such as Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins participated in these research projects in Pensacola prior to spaceflight.
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