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The ship was built for high boost; controls were over the pilots’ tanks, where they could be fingered without lifting a hand. The flight surgeon and an assistant fitted Kleuger into one tank while two medical technicians arranged Joe in his. One of them asked, “Underwear smooth? No wrinkles?” “I guess.” “I’ll check.” He did so, then arranged fittings necessary to a man who must remain in one position for days. “The nipple left of your mouth is water; the two on your right are glucose and bouillon.” “No solids?” The surgeon turned in the air and answered, “You don’t need any, you won’t want any, and you mustn’t have any. And be careful in swallowing,” “I’ve boosted before.” “Sure, sure. But be careful.” Each tank was like an over-sized bathtub filled with a liquid denser than water.' The top was covered by a rubbery sheet, gasketed at the edges; during boost each man would float with the sheet conforming to his body. The Salamander being still in free orbit, everything was weightless and the sheet now served to keep the fluid from floating out. The attendants centered Appleby against the sheet and fastened him with sticky tape, then placed his own acceleration collar, tailored to him, behind his head... “Joe! Joe!” ('Sky Lift' by Robert Heinlein) He opened his eyes and tried to shake his head. “Yes, Skipper.” He looked for Kleuger in the mirror; the pilot’s face, was sagging and drawn, pulled into the mirthless grin of high acceleration.

Technovelgy from Sky Lift, by Robert Heinlein. Published by Imagination in 1953 Additional resources -

The idea also appears in Heinlein's earlier novels Beyond This Horizon (1942) and Double Star (1956 - see the entry for the space-going cider press).

The basic idea of using water to cushion an individual in a spacecraft was probably first used by E.E. "Doc" Smith in his 1934 novel Triplanetary (see the entry for acceleration tank). See also the inertia tank from Masson's Secret (1939) by Raymond Z. Gallun.

However, if you really want to look at water as a means of cushioning acceleration during space flight, see Jules Verne's 1867 novel From the Earth to the Moon; he equips the projectile (that is, the space "capsule") with water-springs.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Sky Lift
  More Ideas and Technology by Robert Heinlein
  Tech news articles related to Sky Lift
  Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein

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