Stephen Hawking to go weightless in April

[Roon]

British physicist Stephen Hawking, who is world-famous for his intellectual prowess as well as his physical frailty, has made a firm date with weightlessness on April 26, aboard a jet flying out of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Hawking's excellent adventure, provided by California-based Zero Gravity Corp., would represent one small step toward the 65-year-old scientist's goal of flying in space as early as 2009 — as well as one giant leap for people with disabilities.

As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience, firsthand, weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment," Hawking said Thursday in a written statement released by Zero Gravity. "I am thankful to Zero Gravity Corp. for making this experience available to the general public, especially for disabled individuals."

The zero-gravity airplane flight produces the feeling of weightlessness for about a half-minute at a time, by following a parabolic up-and-down path at an altitude of 30,000 feet. As the plane crests the top of the parabola, the passengers and other objects in the stripped-down, padded cabin essentially go into free-fall — floating in the air as if they were in orbit.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17156385/

[Mind_your_head]

1. Big smile for Dr. Hawking

I hope it will be a 'most excellent' adventure indeed!

:-) :toast: to Zero Gravity and Dr. Hawking!!!!

[wicket]

3. Amen to that!!!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[InvisibleTouch]

4. Seconded!

I've enjoyed his books for quite a few years.

Remember his guest appearance on Star Trek:TNG?

[Mind_your_head]

12. Yep - I've read "A Brief History of Time" ....understanding only a fraction of it,

but somehow fascinated nonetheless for some reason....I read it cover-to-cover and STILL have it on my shelf.

Dr. Hawking was the only person to 'play himself' on Star Trek when Data plays poker on the Holodeck with Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Sir Isaac Newton



I know that some people may not consider Dr. Hawking to be "the brightest star"/cutting edge guy in physics - and that may very well be true - but he's brought physics into the general public's eye in a 'Grande' way....and if it's 'because of' OR 'in spite of' his physical disabilities...it's a truly remarkable and genuinely good thing!

Peace,
M_Y_H

[badgerpup]

17. GMTA...

I thought about that when I read this story...what a smile he had, playing poker with Data...:loveya:

[Beausoir]

2. Fantastic! I hope he has a wonderful experience.

Great story.

[YOY]

5. MC Hawking defyin' the grizavity!

You go dawg!

[PreacherCasey]

6. Good for him! eom

[MADem]

7. Well, he's rid of the wife that beat him, so he'll be as healthy as he can manage for the event

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=411781&in_page_id=1770

[frogcycle]

8. just freaking super!

i've read his books and re-read; he is a great explainer, and i still can't grasp half of it.

But he should be forewarned - the nickname for that astronaut-training flight technique is a "ride on the vomit comet"

[TomInTib]

9. This is beyond cool.

Man, I hope Hawking holds up OK, for that is an extremely strenuous and stressful exercise.

I seized upon an opportunity to do that some years ago (over the Gulf of Mexico).

Without going into too much detail, I pretty much embarrassed myself.

But I would do it again tomorrow.

[loyalsister]

15. For most of us it would be.....

But some people are actually plagued by too much gravity.
That was John Hockenberry's observation when he was preparing for his space flight, anyway.
I look forward to Hawking's comments.

[Pastiche423]

16. I am one of those people

and I hope he will write about his adventure. He must be psyched!

[meldroc]

10. Sweet! I'm envious.

Going into space, or at least doing something like flying the Vomit Comet (that's the unofficial nickname of NASA's zero-G training aircraft) is definitely on my life's To-Do list.

[proud patriot]

11. Good for him

:hi:

[pitohui]

13. good for him

if any man has earned it, he has

[youngdem]

14. How exciting. God speed sir. I hope it spurs some new thoughts on what it's all about

[ChickMagic]

18. I've always wanted to go on the vomit comet

But I'm so much happier than Hawking is going to go! How exciting for him!