"Space - here I come" said Hawking when he got off the plane
photograph: gozerog.com, ZEROG website (click on the link for more photos)
Free from his wheelchair and connected only to monitors that check his heartbeat and blood pressure, Stephen Hawking fulfilled his dream of flying in zero gravity in an airplane, as a step before a future space flight.
"He was smiling the entire time of the flight," says Peter Diamandis, founder of Zero Gravity, which operates the plane in which Hawking took off. "It was a wonderful day for us and for him." added
The BBC website states that initially only one dive was planned, during which Hawking was supposed to experience weightlessness for 25 seconds, after which he was supposed to undergo a medical examination, which would determine if he was fit for further dives. In the end, Hawking and the other 35 people on board the plane performed eight parabolic maneuvers. "He didn't want to come back," said Diamandis.
Below are excerpts from a Zero-G press release following Hawking's flight:
The Zero Gravity company and its sponsors, Space Florida and Sharper Image successfully flew the famous cosmologist and best-selling author Stephen Hawking in a flight that enables the experience of weightlessness. The plane carrying Hawking and his companions performed eight parabolas outside the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday.
It was the first time that Prof. Hawking, a leading expert in the field of gravity, had the opportunity to experience the Zero G experience. The company Zero G Experience flew Prof. Hawking from the space shuttle landing pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"It was amazing. The zero gravity part was wonderful" said Prof. Hawking upon getting off the plane. "I could go on and on. The space - here I come."
Hawking added: "I recommend this experience to everyone and I hope that many will follow my lead and experience weightlessness. There are a few people I would like to thank. First I would like to thank Zero Gravity and Sharper Images and Peter Diamandis for organizing the flight for me. Second, I would like to thank Space Florida and the Kennedy Space Center for hosting. The shuttle's landing track and facilities are the first step towards the moon and Mars, it's a special experience for me to fly weightlessly from here."
Peter Diamandis, founder and CEO of Zero G, says that Prof. Hawking's words, and the richness and excitement of the experiences that accompanied them are similar to the experiences of the other people who fly with us. We had a great honor and gave Professor Hawking the opportunity to fulfill an old dream."
Prof. Hawking did not fly in his wheelchair but lay on his back on a specially padded floor in the center of an empty airplane cabin, at the beginning of each parabola. He then floated to the center of the cell. Diamandis and astronaut Byron Lichtenberg stood on either side as Hawking floated in zero gravity with the help of registered nurse Nicola O'Brien. They then slowly placed him back on the floor.
During the return to normal gravity, he was assisted by members of the flight crew and four doctors, two of them members of Hawking's own medical team.
Hawking's flight was organized as a charity event and the proceeds from it were donated to several associations including Easter Seals, Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, the X-PRIZE Foundation, and Augie's Quest. Zero G donated two seats on Hawking's flight to each such group, and they auctioned off the seats. A total of 144 dollars were collected within this framework, of which 75 were collected by Sparklite Star Bright in an auction held on eBay. In addition to the flight itself, the donors and the other passengers who participated also enjoyed a dinner and Hawking's lecture that took place in Orlando the night before, on April 25.
In preparation for Hawking's flight, Zero Gravity organized an early flight for Hawking's crew members, members of the medical team, Hawking's stunt double, and Zero-Gravity's team of instructors. Space Florida, the company operating to promote commercial space flights from Florida, invited a teacher and a student at its expense to participate in the experience. Ted Strait, an eighth-grader from a middle school in Melbourne, Florida, who has a similar height, weight and build to Prof. Hawking, was honored to serve as Hawking's double on the preliminary flight. Susan Harris, a teacher at Hill Gostat Middle School in Highland County, Florida participated in both the training flight and Hawking's flight, during which she served as a flight instructor. Harris documented and shared her experiences on Hawking's flight on a blog On the ZEROG website.
According to Steve Kohler, Kohler, manager of Spice Florida "We are proud to be partners in this special event. Florida has always been the leader in the field of space, and with the help of bodies like Zero-G we will continue to be world leaders in the field of space exploration, development, flights and trade."
Sharper Images, the second company that participated in organizing the flight, is a marketer of seats on Zero G flights.
The Zero-G experience includes flight preparation training followed by a 90-minute flight aboard G-FORCE ONE - an aircraft that performs a controlled ascent and descent that allows passengers to experience the gravity of Mars (one-third that of Earth), of the Moon (sixth of that of Earth) a) And finally also zero gravity like in space. Since the beginning of the service to the general public, in September 2004, the company has made over a hundred weightless flights during which over 2,500 passengers were flown, including celebrities, company executives, science and math teachers and private citizens between the ages of 12 and 85.
G-FORCE ONE is a Boeing 727 with 35 seats, adapted for parabolic flights. This is the only weightless flight approved by the Federal Aviation Authority and which also serves the general public. The flights are similar to Elul that NASA has been conducting for 40 years as part of astronaut training. The company recently received the permission of the Aviation Authority to fly people with disabilities, thanks to the strong safety standards.
The standards were defined by the Federal Aviation Authority (section 121). The aircraft is operated under the same conditions as required of commercial passenger aircraft.
