A Florida company is reportedly offering people the chance to experience the feeling of weightlessness normally only felt by astronauts – for 25 seconds, at least.
According to the Starbanner.com website, a company called Zero-G Corp yesterday launched a service whereby a modified Boeing 727 flies through a series of 10,000-foot “roller-coaster” arcs called parabolas.
At the top of each arc, passengers become weightless and can “flip, float and tumble” inside a speciall padded section of the aircraft. The weightless feeling lasts for around 25 seconds.
The website reports that despite initial estimates that the company would run about two such flights a month, some 20 services sold out before the business was publicly launched. Tickets, which include a day of training, cost US$2950.
The flights take place in a special airspace over the Gulf of Mexico; it is 100 miles long and 10,000 feet deep.
An average flight will incorporate around 20 parabolas, the website reports, because average people who have not had the intense training undergone by astronauts are unlikely to “hold their cookies” for any longer than that.
Potential customers are warned that even the most experienced astronauts can get “sick to their stomach” in zero gravity.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
