Experience space without leaving Earth

Posted on 5 March 2020

NASA is recruiting a new class of astronauts who will possibly make up the team who will go on the next moon mission. The criteria is high, so for those who would love to experience space but don’t meet the requirements, there is another option.

A US company, aptly named  Zero Gravity, are giving excited space enthusiasts the opportunity to float around up in the air without ever leaving Earth’s atmosphere.

According to Lonely Planet, the company is taking it’s modified Boeing 727 on a tour around the US, starting in Atlanta on 21 March and wraping on 21 November in Miami, with 30 stops in between.

To achieve the feeling of weightlessness, the airplane is pulled up so that the nose is at an incline angle until it reaches 32,000 feet at a 45-degree angle. The pilot then pushes the nose down over the peak, resulting in a zero-gravity result within the plane. This manoeuvre is much like a rollercoaster in the sky.

The feeling lasts for only 20-30 seconds but is repeated 15 times over the trip.

The trip is truly for astronaut enthusiasts only though, as it is quite expensive. On top of the price to make it to the US to meet the plane on it’s tour. The trip itself cost from $540 (R8,294) for standard flips to $165,000 (R253,436,700) for private flights.

Image: Zack_ackers/ Twitter






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