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"I can remember when the first pulsars were discovered. I was able to go and sit down and listen to graduate students talking about what their theories, to explain what pulsars really were."
- Vernor Vinge

Launch Shock  
  Astronauts need protection from the shock of being launched into space.  

This is a very early, probably the first, reference to the idea that the shock and pressure of launching a person into space will require careful placement.

In every instance the take-off hits him as a severe shock, for he is hurled just as though he had been shot aloft by gunpowder to sail over mountains and seas. For this reason at the outset he must be lulled to sleep immediately with narcotics and opiates. His limbs must be arranged in such a way that his torso will not be torn away from his buttocks nor his head from his body, but the shock will be distributed among his individual limbs...
Technovelgy from Somnium (The Dream), by Johannes Kepler.
Published by Not Known in 1634
Additional resources -

Compare to water springs from From the Earth to the Moon (1867), by Jules Verne and the shock-absorbing seats from Evans of the Earth-Guard (1930) by Edmond Hamilton.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Somnium (The Dream)
  More Ideas and Technology by Johannes Kepler
  Tech news articles related to Somnium (The Dream)
  Tech news articles related to works by Johannes Kepler

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