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I was checking my newly-set-up Google Reader for new RSS feeds and news stories today, when I saw the headline “Couple Engaged on Zero-Gravity Flight“. I certainly didn’t expect to see another entry so soon, but perhaps many more are to follow, based on the following story (clipped for length):

Commercial Zero-Gravity Flights Begin in Las Vegas
By Leonard David
Special to Space News
LAS VEGAS — Zero Gravity Corp. inaugurated service to Las Vegas April 21, the latest step in the company’s quest to give the average citizen the opportunity to experience weightlessness the same way astronauts in training and in spaceflight do. …Zero-G’s specially modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft — G-Force One — offers paying customers a largely empty fuselage that becomes a padded playground as the plane runs through its routine — climbing and diving maneuvers that simulate the microgravity that astronauts experience. Flight operations are being conducted from Signature Air Terminal here at McCarran International Airport. …While NASA has flown microgravity research flights for about 50 years, very few civilians have been exposed to the experience, McMahon said.

Consumer marketing

The gradations of gravity help participants gradually adapt to the experience. That gradual conditioning and the positioning of clients during the plane’s maneuvers help minimize a person’s susceptibility of motion sickness. A very light dosage of medication also is available to participants. “We’ve knocked motion sickness down to a point where it’s not a concern,” Diamandis said. Within three designated zones inside the aircraft, flight groups are broken into teams and assigned coaches to help maximize a customer’s microgravity experience.

Last month, Zero-G established a relationship with the Sharper Image Corp. to exclusively market and sell seats on its public flights. Starting May 15, reservations for seats on the Zero-G Experience will be made available through Sharper Image’s specialty retail stores and via the company’s monthly consumer catalog.

Offered at a price of $3,500 per seat plus tax, those taking part in a 90-minute period experience 15 parabolas, as well as take home items like their flight suit, photographs and a DVD of their encounter with microgravity. Charter flights cost $115,000 and fly up to 35 people. Zero-G also has regularly scheduled flights from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Entree into the next frontier

The first official public flight from Las Vegas was April 21, followed by an April 23 VIP/media day. To celebrate the start of Zero-G operations from Las Vegas, the private VIP flight carried such notables as Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, as well as key Las Vegas casino executives, including entertainer Raymond Teller [he goes only by his last name on stage] of the magic and comedy team, Penn and Teller.

Currently, future Zero-G flights out of Las Vegas are slated for the following dates: May 26; June 16, 17 and 30; August 4; September 1 and 2; October 6; November 10; and December 30 and 31.

I expect to see many more headlines and sightings of floating celebs and others in the near future. Anyone wanna spot me $3,500?

Over the course of a single week, I saw not one, but three separate instances of people in zero-gravity situations on television. No, I don’t watch the NASA channel.

The first instance is probably the best-known: Dr. Stephen Hawking, the brilliant theoretical physicist, who also is afflicted with ALS, fulfilled his dream of experiencing weightless flight. A company called Zero Gravity runs these flights where riders can experience 25 seconds of weightlessness eight times. Sure, it was not yet the space travel he surely craves, but it must have been an absolutely amazing experience for this man who is nearly imprisoned in his own body. This story was well-reported in the media; I saw several video clips aired around April 26-27.

The second instance came when KFC (or, as it is once again known, Kentucky Fried Chicken) kicked off its transition to zero grams trans-fat cooking. Okay, so I didn’t see it on TV, per se, but there is a commercial with a man dressed like the Colonel, and he is floating by himself in zero gravity (again, probably run by the same company). I saw it on the web, but since it was a commercial I assumed that it was mainly aired on television. I saw this on April 30.

The third instance was on the Fox network show Bones. Two of the characters, Brennan and Booth, wanted to interview an astronaut who was busy training, so they accompanied him where? oh yes, on a zero gravity flight! Saw the show on May 1.

So, why am I mentioning these sightings? I wish I had some actual information to back the idea up, but if it wasn’t simply several coincidences, perhaps Zero Gravity has special times of the year reserved for film crews.

I’m waiting for the fourth sighting. It would be really fun to watch little kids in zero g (and that would remind me of Ender’s Game), but they probably don’t let anyone under 18 go on these trips.