Hawking takes zero-gravity flight
he British physicist Stephen Hawking has taken off on a zero-gravity flight in a specially modified plane. Professor Hawking, who suffers from motor neurone disease, was able to float free, unrestricted by his paralysed muscles and his wheelchair. The flight took off around 1930 (1830 GMT) and was expected to last an our. The modified Boing 727
jet simulates the experience of weightlessness as it performs 25-second
plunges over the Atlantic Ocean.
He was not given many years to live when he was disgnosed with motor neurone disease in the 1960s, aged 22.
Long-held ambition
"I have wanted to fly in
space all my life," said Dr Hawking. "For someone like me whose muscles don''t work very well, it will be bliss to be weightless". The 65-year-old will float free during one our or more
parabolic manoeuvres during the flight. The
plane took off from the space shuttle''s runway at Nasa Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will also land. Parabolic flights are commonly referred to as "vomit comets". During the flight, Dr. Hawking''s aides were to lift him out of his chair and place him gently on the floor of the plane during the sharply angles climb into the sky, in preparation for the first plunge.Other plunges will be made only after the two doctors and three nurses who are accompanying him have made sure he is not suffering any ill effects.
The jet''s interior is padded to protect the
weightless fliers and equipped with cameras to record their adventure.
r. Hawking is one of the best-known theoretical physicists of his generation. Some of his groundbreaking work focuses on black holes and the origins of the Universe.
He has at least one other motive for taking the weightless flight: he believes privite space ventures are vital to reduce the cost of space tourism and make it accessible to a greater number of people.
Hawking has a reservation for a sub-orbital flight with Sir Richard Branson''s Virgin Glalatic venture, schedules to begin service in 2009.
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