Having spent his life studying the bone-crushing gravity of black holes, cosmologist Stephen Hawking last week revelled in the exact opposite: the liberating feeling of zero gravity.
Along with an entourage of carers, Hawking took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in a modified Boeing 727. As the jet flies in a parabolic arc between altitudes of 24,000 and 34,000 feet, its occupants experience about 30 seconds of free fall, or zero gravity. The jet carrying Hawking performed eight of these manoeuvres, giving him 4 minutes of weightlessness in total. 鈥淚t was amazing,鈥� Hawking said afterwards.
Earlier, Hawking had acknowledged that experiencing weightlessness, even for a few seconds, would be sweet relief from a life immobilised by a debilitating neuromuscular disorder. 鈥淚 have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades and the chance to float free in zero-g will be wonderful,鈥� he said at a pre-flight news conference.
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A day before his flight, Hawking spoke about his fears for the human race if we fail to colonise space. 鈥淟ife on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 therefore want to encourage public interest in space. A zero-g flight is the first step.鈥�
Hawking鈥檚 experience, meanwhile, has only whetted his appetite. He hopes to be aboard a commercial suborbital space flight being developed by Virgin Galactic. 鈥淪pace, here I come,鈥� said Hawking.
