Volunteer patient George Jacobs is placed aboard an agency helicopter at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For a training exercise, "volunteer patient" George Jacobs, NASA's deputy director of Center Operations, is carefully placed aboard an agency helicopter at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In an actual emergency, the pilots could fly an injured person from Kennedy to a nearby trauma center in minutes.

The activity taking place in Kennedy's Launch Complex 39 turn-basin parking lot was only one of several drills. It was part of a new training program that was developed by Kennedy's Fire Rescue department along with NASA Aircraft Operations to sharpen the skills needed to help rescue personnel learn how to collaborate with helicopter pilots in taking injured patients to hospitals as quickly as possible. Photo credit: NASA/Dan Casper