This historic, silent footage from December 10, 1954 shows a medical exam on Col. John Paul Stapp, conducted after a ride on the Sonic Wind rocket sled test at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The exam shows some of his injuries which included broken blood vessels in his eyes (also known as a red out ), and bruising and skin abrasions on his shoulder and torso.

These tests were intended to examine the human body’s ability to withstand rapid deceleration and G forces. It was on December 10, 1954, that the Sonic Wind with Stapp aboard accelerated from rest to a top speed of 282 m/s (1015 km/h) in 5.00 s, and was brought jarringly back to rest in only 1.40 s — applying a force of 20.6Gs. This was also the highest known acceleration voluntarily encountered by a human, as Stapp reached a speed of 632 mph (1,017 km/h) which broke the land speed record and made him the fastest man on Earth. Stapp believed that the tolerance of humans to acceleration had not yet been reached in tests. He believed it is much greater than thought possible.

At 2:37, a slate is shown verifying the date.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com