stephen hawkings, zero-gravity, april, 2007, weightless, flight, space, zero-g
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| Home > Professor Stephen Hawking zero-gravity flight Thursday, April 26, 2007 Images / Pictures |
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Professor Stephen Hawking
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On the flight, which took off and landed from the space shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral,
Stephen Hawking was accompanied by two doctors, and three nurses, (also heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide measuring monitors!), to make sure
he was physically safe and comfortable during the experience.
His assistant brought a card with the letters of the alphabet in case he wanted to communicate
beyond facial expressions.
In the event Stephen Hawking, who had taken a pre-flight motion sickness pill as a precaution,
lapped the experience up.
What could have been a single parabolic
dive was extended, at his own insistence, to a total of eight dives.
After the first zero-gravity plunge Stephen Hawking indicated to his carers after
that he would like to perform a 180-degree "flip" with his body.
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While Professor Hawking was enjoying zero gravity, aides also allowed an apple to float free in the aircraft as a tribute to Sir Isaac Newton, the British physicist who discovered the laws of gravity. He had been inspired to work out his Universal Law of Gravitation after watching an apple fall from a tree.
"He was doing gold-medal gymnastics in zero-g. It was incredible," said Peter Diamandis, chairman of Zero Gravity Corp. When asked if he was enjoying himself "his eyebrows went up and there was a big grin, meaning 'yes'...he was grinning the entire time". Zero Gravity Corp. had offered the ride, which normally costs $3500, to Stephen Hawking as a courtesy.
Prior to the flight Hawking had told journalists that "I have wanted to fly in space all of my life," and
that "for someone like me whose muscles don't work very well, it will be bliss to be weightless."
Hawking told a pre-flight news conference.
"I have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades and the chance to float free in zero g will be wonderful."
After the flight Hawking enthused:- "It was amazing. The zero-g bit was wonderful...I could have gone on and on.
Space, here I come."
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KING: You have said that experiencing zero gravity is one of the most meaningful experiences you've ever had. Why?Hawking hopes the zero-gravity flight is a step toward going on a suborbital flight, which may be offered by private space companies by the end of the decade. Sir Richard Branson boss of Virgin Galactic, a company that has advanced plans to provide sub-orbital rides to paying passengers as early as 2009, has agreed to "fix it" for the professor and has arranged a flight for him that should involve a specialised craft being launched from a host "mother ship" at 50,000 feet, then soaring to a sub-orbital height of 360,000 feet above the earth.
HAWKING: Zero gravity was amazing. I could have gone on and on. Being confined to a wheelchair doesn't bother me as my mind is free to roam the universe, but it felt wonderful to be weightless.
Hawking said he had an ulterior motive for going on the flight besides raising money, (more than $144,000!), for charities and the thrill of weightlessness. He said he wants to increase public interest in space, since he believes humans' survival depends on going into space.
Hawking expressed hopes that the cost of space flight will drop and that humanity will be able to gain access to the resources of space. He suggested that a spread of humanity beyond the Earth was desireable and necessary!
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Stephen Hawking quotation Science will win out over Religion |
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Virgin Galactic - Sir Richard Branson
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"...man is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose
flower and fruitage is the world..." Ralph Waldo Emerson
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