AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

The Human Crash Test Dummy

The man who set the G-force tolerance record

You had to hand it to John Stapp. When it came to exploring the limits of human tolerance, he didn't ask test subjects to try anything he wasn't willing to do himself.

On this day in 1954, Stapp set the record for G-force tolerance—a whopping 46.2 Gs.

Tony Reichhardt is a senior editor at Air & Space.

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