is hanging on their experiment being successfully performed in zero gravity, and that particular flight might be the only opportunity for their experiment to fly.
There is a lot of pressure to get the experiments done, because there are those who are depending on us to get good results. There are sometimes dozens of experiments that have to be performed in a span of a couple of hours. Normally, the crew schedules during these flights are jam-packed. The zero gravity flights that I have done through the commercial space program are purely for training purposes and for conducting scientific research in weightless environments. By the end of the flight, I had several peanut butter stains on my flight suit. When the gravity came back, several of us landed on top of some of the M&Ms, smashing them in the process. What I hadn't stopped to think about was that peanut butter M&Ms are relatively soft. In other words, there is a point at which the gravity comes back and you immediately transition from blissfully floating to slamming onto the floor. While well-intentioned, this particular activity actually went a little bit awry.ĭepending on the flight profile, the periods of weightlessness that you experience on a parabolic flight typically range in duration from 20 to 30 seconds. My original thought was that all of the free-floating, brightly colored candy would look great on video, and that it would give me a chance to experience the sensation of eating in zero gravity. One of the things I did on the tourist flight was open a bag of peanut butter M&Ms in zero gravity and watch them fly. This was probably the only time in my life that I have ever drank water that was not in a glass or a bottle.Įating in zero gravity is quite the experience, as well. It's actually possible to drink one of these free-floating globs of water. When weightless, water forms a free-floating sphere. I know that doesn't sound like anything special, but as I said before, even the most mundane objects become toys in zero gravity. Several of us lined up at the end of the plane, and when the gravity went away, we kicked off of the bulkhead and floated down the length of the plane in a pose that looked a lot like the way that Superman flies.ĭuring that flight, I was also given the opportunity to try drinking some water. Looking back, I probably should have tried to give myself some momentum rather than inching my way along.Īnother thing I did on the tourist flight - which I've been told is something of a tradition - was to fly like Superman. It was an interesting sensation, but surprisingly difficult to do because there wasn't a lot to grab onto. I started by crawling up the wall, then crawling across the ceiling and down the adjacent wall. I also tried crawling around the circumference of the plane. Even so, it was some of the most fun I've ever had in zero gravity. It was a weird sensation: I was essentially a human volleyball. Without a doubt, the most fun thing that I tried on that tourist flight was putting myself into a fetal position, then allowing others to throw me from one side of the plane to the other. I had the opportunity to do things on that flight that I've never had a chance to do on any of the training flights. Because the tourist flights are not part of an astronaut training program, the whole thing is just for fun.
These flights aren't cheap, but they are a way for the average person to find out what it's like to be weightless. In 2014, however, I had the opportunity to fly on a parabolic flight as a space tourist.Īnyone can fly on these flights as long as they meet some basic health requirements. Those experiences, while fun, didn't really give me any chance to play around because I had to fly the plane. My very first time being weightless was back in the '90s while flying parabolas in a small aircraft. The e-mail asked what other kinds of things I and others have done in zero gravity purely for the sake of amusing ourselves. For example, last fall I floated a copy of my book in zero gravity. I had written something along the lines of, "One of the most difficult things about being weightless is the temptation to play." I went on to say that when you are weightless, even the most mundane objects become toys.
No gravity games download#
Recently, I received an e-mail from someone asking about an offhand comment I made in the book (which you can download here for free). A couple of years ago, I wrote a book called Conversational Astronaut Training that describes what it has been like for me to train for a commercial space mission.
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