Buoyancy "downward" direction. The center of buoyancy of an object is the centroid of the displaced volume of fluid. Archimedes' principle is named after Archimedes of Syracuse, who first discovered this law in 212 B.C. For objects, floating and sunken, and in gases as well as liquids (i.e. a fluid), Archimedes' principle may be stated thus in terms of forces: — with the clarifications that for a sunken object the volume of displaced fluid is the volume of the object, and for a floating object on a liquid, the weight of the displaced liquid is the weight of the object. More
Neutral buoyancy simulation as a training aid and Buzz Aldrin. During the Skylab 2 mission, astronauts Conrad and Kerwin successfully opened a solar panel that had not automatically deployed after launch. To perform this task, the astronauts trained underwater in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Marshall Space Flight Center. However, due to differences between the design of the mock-up used for training and what they found at Skylab, the astronauts used makeshift tools and redesigned how they would accomplish the task while they were in outer space. Astronauts rehearse extra-vehicular activity tasks in underwater neutral buoyancy before attempting those tasks in space to gain an understanding