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Zero-gravity flights gomainstream

After years of effort, the first commercial tour service to offer zero-gravity airplane flights in

the United States is finally open for business. For just under $3,000, regular folks can get a

tamed-down taste of what astronauts feel on NASA's "Vomit Comet."

Passengers aboard the modified Boeing 727-200 jet will experience weightlessness for about

25 seconds at a time, courtesy of the plane's special parabolic flight path. The physics

behind the experience is analogous to what happens during a roller-coaster ride or a fast

elevator descent. But inside the jet's padded passenger cabin, fliers are able to tumble in the

air or do a "Superman" fly-through, similar to the acrobatics performed on the international

space station.

Such flights have long been available for researchers and astronauts fromNASAand the

French companyNovespace,and the Russians took parabolic flight one step further by

allowing tourists to buy rides on similarly outfitted IL-76 cargo jets.

But the venture involvingZero Gravity Corp.andAmerijet International,both

based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is the first to win approval from the Federal Aviation

Administration for public parabolic flights in the United States, agency spokeswoman

Kathleen Bergen told MSNBC.com.

Bergen said the final required certification was granted in mid-August after Amerijet, a 30-

year-old cargo transport airline, demonstrated that such flights would be operated safely.

"There were extensive requirements in the area of aircraft maintenance as well as operations

before we could issue the special authorization," she said.

11 years of preparation

Zero Gravity's launch caps an 11-year effort for Peter Diamandis, who is the company's co-

founder, chairman and chief executive officer, as well as the chairman of the foundation

behind the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight. During aspace

conferencein Phoenix in April, Diamandis said he hoped Zero Gravity would be "an

overnight success after 11 years of hard work."

This week, Zero Gravity kicked off a nationwide round of press preview flights, starting at

Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The first flight available for ticketing is

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Zero-gravity flights gomainstreamscheduled for Oct. 9 out of Fort Lauderdale, and Zero Gravity's chief marketing officer,

Noah McMahon, told MSNBC.com that one full flight in December already has been sold

out.

Advertise

A typical parabolic flight lasts about 90 minutes, with 15 up-and-down parabolas at an

altitude of 24,000 to 34,000 feet. Two "Martian" arcs simulate one-third Earth gravity,

three "lunar" arcs feel like one-sixth Earth gravity, and the final 10 provide the full zero-

gravity experience.

This chart shows the flight profile for the Zero Gravity parabolas. Each peak provides 25 seconds of

weightlessness, but each valley makes you feel 1.8 times heavier than you do on the ground.

"We're not picking people who are the typical military or NASA-type astronaut, we're talking

about the average person, and the average person doesn't experience weightlessness in

normal life," David Bassett, president and chief executive officer of Amerijet International,

told MSNBC.com. "It's the experience of a lifetime. It's something that at the end of the day

they're going to be really thrilled that they did."

NASA's flight path can induce motion sickness in some people after all, that's why they

call it the "Vomit Comet." And during this summer's series of demonstration flights for theFAA, a couple of the passengers aboard the Amerijet plane reportedly looked a little green

around the gills, though most were said to be delighted. The FAA's Bergen declined to

characterize how the inspectors handled the flights, other than to say, "It was definitely a

unique experience for all of them."

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Zero-gravity flights gomainstreamZero Gravity's McMahon said the ride had been toned down to minimize that stomach-

turning feeling. "The bottom line is that NASA flies its airplanes using a very different flight

profile," he said. "Ours is designed for the maximum amount of fun and enjoyment."

Training sessions and optional nausea remedies (which passengers must procure

themselves in advance) further reduce the risk of getting space-sick. "We have very well-

trained, certified flight attendants as well as coaches," McMahon said.

The bottom lines

Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and

a postflight party.

In comparison, Virginia-basedSpace Adventuresand Florida-basedIncredible

Adventuresoffer zero-gravity flights in Russia as part of a four-day tour package priced

at $6,500 to $7,000. Another commercial venture, led byZero Group,is planning to sell

zero-gravity tours starting in February. The trip would involve bringing a Russian IL-76 jet

to Sweden, but the pricing and logistics have not yet been fully worked out.

These packages offer a taste of exotic culture as well as a taste of weightlessness: In Russia,

you tour theStar Citycosmonaut complex, and in Sweden, you would stay at the

KirunaIce Hotel.Zero Gravity's offering, in contrast, offers a taste of the familiar.

Individual ticket holders would board the plane at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood

International Airport. Alternatively, you can buy out the entire 27-passenger flight, pay a

transit fee and have the plane flown to the appropriate airport of your choosing.

That's the pattern for this month's press launch, sponsored by the Diet Rite brand of soft

drinks: After Newark, the "G-Force One" jet is due to visit Los Angeles, Reno, Dallas,

Atlanta and Detroit before returning to Fort Lauderdale.

Zero Gravity aims to keep capital expenses down by using Amerijet's cargo planes only when

neededa scheme that Diamandis and his partners actuallypatentedfive years ago. The

arrangement calls for a cargo jet to be converted to zero-gravity service in a matter of hours,

then converted back after the flight.

Amerijet's Bassett admitted that the plan sounded like "a crazy idea" when Diamandis laid it

out for him more than a year ago.

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Zero-gravity flights gomainstream"When I first heard about it, I thought it was pretty novel and wasn't certain how it would be

received by the FAA," he said. But now Bassett is confident that the business model will fly,

thanks to the FAA's clearance and Zero Gravity's years of preparation.

"The Zero Gravity folks have been involved with NASA and have had NASA people around

them for many years," Bassett said. "The majority of flight attendants have at one time or

another been associated with NASA. There's a heck of a lot of experience that has been

pulled together to make this operation what it is, and we're confident that it's safe and ought

to be fun."