In 1958 the United States launched its first satellite and created the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). By 1961 
NASA was confident enough to put a human being into space 
thanks to decades of military medical research.

    Efforts at Wright Field and the army's School of Aviation 
Medicine, a world-class research institution, were the real reason for 
the successful start to America's manned space program.

    In Testing the Limits, Maura Phillips Mackowski describes the 
crucial foundational contributions of military flight surgeons who 
routinely risked their lives in test aircraft, research balloons, 
pressure chambers, rocket-propelled sleds, or parachute harnesses. 
Drawing on rare primary sources and interviews, Mackowski also 
reveals the little-known but vital contributions of German emigré 
scientists whose expertise in areas unknown to Americans created a 
hybrid specialty: space medicine. Mackowski reveals new details on 
human aeromedical experimentation at Dachau, Washington's 
decision to limit astronaut status to males, and the choice to freeze 
the air force out of the research specialty it had created and brought 
to fruition.

_________________________________________________________

For more than ten years, MAURA PHILLIPS MACKOWSKI, who 
holds a Ph.D. in history, worked as a freelance writer covering high-
tech topics particularly centered on aerospace. Now a resident of 
Gilbert, Arizona, she teaches history at Arizona State University.


Number Fifteen: Centennial of Flight Series


What people are saying about this book

". . . demonstrates outstanding scholarship in the exploration of the 
history of American military aviation medicine.:—Space Times, 
November/December 2007

"Well documented and convincingly argued, Mackowski’s book 
deserves high praise for telling the story of those individuals who 
helped aviators and astronauts climb ever higher into the heavens."
—Space Times, November/December 2007

"One cannot help but find Testing the Limits an important contribution 
to aerospace history and the history of medicine."—Book Reviews, 
2006

". . . a thoroughly researched work making excellent use of archives 
and oral history. . . . Mackowski’s account resounds with the kind of 
thrilling stories for which basic cable was invented. . . ."—Technology 
and Culture, October 2007

"Maura Phillips Mackowski has filled a critically important gap in the 
literature of American aerospace history. . . . The author provides a 
compelling narrative overview of the development of aviation medicine 
in the United States. . . . Testing the Limits is an important and 
engrossing story, well told in very lively prose. Specialists and general 
readers alike will find it difficult to put down."—The Journal of American 
History, March 2007

". . . a brilliant piece of scholarship. . . . Mackowski’s book belongs 
in every space historian’s library. . . . Seldom does one find in 
scholarly literature a book as easy and enjoyable to read as Testing 
the Limits."—Air Power History

"[Mackowski] captures the excitement and human drama of aviation 
and space medicine."—Margaret A. Weitekamp, Hobart and William 
Smith Colleges

"The research in archives and oral histories is deep and wide-ranging; 
the personal biographies are rich and illuminating; the technical 
discussions are authoritative and easy to read; and the writing 
sparkles with a passion that defines the book as a true labor of love."
—Clarence Lasby, author of Project Paperclip: German Scientists 
and the Cold War

"Mackowski's book is a most welcome addition to aviation history—a 
significant study that addresses a subject that is too often overlooked."
—Roger Bilstein, Professor of History Emeritus, University of Houston–
Clear Lake