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Is there a place I can go to experience zero gravity?
No Astronaut Experience Required. Experience zero-gravity in a uniquely personal way. Our newest zero-g adventure takes place across the state from the Kennedy Space Center, at the Aurora Aerospace Training Center in St Petersburg, Florida.
How much does it cost to go on the Vomit Comet?
The trips on NASA’s Weightless Wonder, known more informally as the Vomit Comet, would cost more than $5,000 per person through the Zero Gravity Corporation.
Can you simulate weightlessness on earth?
You can simulate microgravity on Earth, using a special plane and flight path. The pilot flies the plane in a ballistic trajectory: the path and speed it would take as if it were fired from a cannon. So they experience a condition like weightlessness while the plane follows the ballistic path.
Where on earth is the strongest gravity?
Gravity is strongest at the Earth’s surface, and its weakest at the Earth’s core.
How does NASA create zero gravity on Earth?
NASA uses airplanes to create microgravity for short periods of time. The airplane does this by flying in up-and-down parabolas. At the top of the parabola, people and objects inside the airplane are in free fall for about 20-30 seconds at a time.
Can civilians go on the Vomit Comet?
Non-astronauts are welcome on the “vomit comet.” Painful-looking new suntans: just back from the islands. They’re customers of Ballston-based Zero Gravity Corporation, which gives civilians the opportunity to ride in a space-simulation airplane like the one that NASA recruits once dubbed the “vomit comet.”
How fast does the vomit comet fly?
The aircraft executes a parabolic arc for about twenty-five seconds. At the top of the parabola, the aircraft reaches an altitude of 36,000 feet and a speed of about 160 knots.
Does the vomit comet still fly?
The latest of NASA’s KC-135A aircraft, dubbed the Vomit Comet by the press, made its final microgravity flight Oct. 29 and will be retired at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Oct. But it is the only one of its kind still flying, and it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain the plane.
Is the vomit comet real?
Versions of such airplanes were operated by the NASA Reduced Gravity Research Program, and one is currently operated by the Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration Programmes of the European Space Agency. The unofficial nickname “vomit comet” became popular among those who experienced their operation.