These Astronauts Designed Experiments for Space by Swimming Underwater

December 18, 1975: This is no casual swim: astronauts Carolyn Griner, Ann Whitaker, and Mary-Helen Johnston train in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator to help design new experiments to conduct in the challenging environment of space.

Unlike many early space agency programs composed of all-women teams, the program had nothing to do with testing the suitability or limitations of women in spaceflight. Instead, it relied entirely on their knowledge and expertise to solve problems, not their biological characteristics as test subjects.

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