The Fuge is an 11,000 square foot concrete building that is home to the Johnsville Centrifuge developed by the U.S. Navy in 1949. Designed to simulate gravitational forces experienced by pilots and astronauts during flight, the 180-ton centrifuge is the largest and most powerful ever built.
The centrifuge consists of a 10-foot-diameter spheroid gondola mounted to a 50-foot arm that rotated around the circular centrifuge chamber powered by a 4,000-horsepower motor. Capable of accelerating to 175 mph in under 7 seconds, the centrifuge tested the effects of gravitational forces on pilots and astronauts and helped prepare them for the lift-off and reentry phases of their space missions.
Operational for nearly 50 years, the centrifuge was an invaluable training tool for all of America’s early astronauts, including Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Donald K. (“Deke”) Slayton, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin!