weightlessness

EADS Plans Space Tourism Jet

Filed under: Wings

The aircraft above may look a bit like a normal airplane but it is actually a space jet outfitted with rocket engines. EADS Astrium unveiled plans for the jet, which is designed for space tourism, last week and plans to show off a full-scale model at the air show in Paris this week. The jet will take passengers into weightless flight more than 62 miles above the Earth. The first flight is scheduled for 2012 and tickets are expected to cost $199,000 to $265,000. A ticket buys you three minutes of weightlessness and the chance to gaze down on the Earth and is part of a burgeoning space travel boom that includes major players such as Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

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Tags: astrium, eads, expire-images:2008-6-17, rockets, space, space jet, space tourism, weightlessness

Weightless Flights Now On Sale At Sharper Image

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

Just a few years ago weightless flights were a rarity. Now they have become so commonplace that they are being sold through the Sharper Image catalog. Sharper Image now sells the Zero-G weighless flight through Zero Gravity, the first FAA-approved provider of commercial weightless flights. Reservations can be made at a Sharper Image store, through the catalog or online. Since September 2004, the company has provided around 100 weightless flights for more than 2,500 passengers. The flights depart from Las Vegas and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The experience includes a brief training session followed by a 90-minute flight aboard G-Force One, a Boeing 727. The controlled ascent and descent of the plane lets flyers to experience apparent Martian gravity (1/3 Earth's gravity), Lunar gravity (1/6 Earth's gravity), and true weightlessness. The flight costs $3,500.

[via General Aviation News]

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Tags: anti-gravity, flights, gravity, weightlessness, zergo gravity, ZergoGravity