Hawking to Take Zero Gravity Ride

An anonymous reader writes "Well-known cosmologist Stephen Hawking is preparing for a once-in a lifetime trip. His goals are for even higher ground, but right now he's readying for an April zero gravity ride aboard NASA's 'vomit comet'. His ultimate goal is to take a ride on one of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic flights, and this is a 'test run' for that more rigorous experience. Though complex math ain't no thing for Dr. Hawking, his interests here are purely inspirational. 'Hawking says he wants to encourage public interest in spaceflight, which he believes is critical to the future of humanity. "I also want to show," he said in an e-mail interview, "that people need not be limited by physical handicaps as long as they are not disabled in spirit."'"

Comments

Rumor is....

[drfrog]

He's getting ready for his new album and is shooting video on these flights

http://www.mchawking.com/

Re:Does this mean its open to everyone?

[RockyPersaud]

The posting is incorrect, but the article is correct. It's not NASA's Vomit Comet (KC-135), but the Zero Gravity Corporation's G-Force One.

And yes, it's open to everyone who mets their basic health requirements and is at least 15 years old. Whether Hawking meets the requirements I'd like to know (ie. are they making an exception?)

Einstein's Equivalence Principle

[alphabetsoup]

No. There is absolutely no difference between free fall in a gravitational field and absence of a gravitational field. This is the famous Equivalence Principle of General Relativitiy. This link gives more detail: http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/gener al_relativity.html

So there exists no difference at all between free fall and zero gravity. As for your second point, no experiment can distinguish between the two cases. So no observation can differentiate between the two.

Re:Einstein's Equivalence Principle

[at_18]

No. There is absolutely no difference between free fall in a gravitational field and absence of a gravitational field. This is the famous Equivalence Principle of General Relativitiy. This link gives more detail: http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/gener al_relativity.html [virginia.edu]

So there exists no difference at all between free fall and zero gravity. As for your second point, no experiment can distinguish between the two cases. So no observation can differentiate between the two.

This is incorrect. For a point-like object, it's true that you can't distinguish between the two. But for an extended body, if the intensity of the gravitational field varies with the position, different parts of the body will try to follow different "free falls" trajectories and this will result in very real forces inside the body - so called
tidal forces. BTW, to have any kind of measurable difference you need either a gravitational field with a very steep gradient, for example very near to a black hole center, or a very big object like the Earth.

It's a fun ride

[Jay Maynard]

I've been on that flight (courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which got to show video of me losing my lunch in return). It's a lot of fun. I hope Professor Hawking enjoys his ride.

Anyone who wants to can go on Zero G's flights, as long as they don't have a medical problem that gets in the way - and they have a doctor on staff who goes over your medical history before you go. All it takes is $3750.

Article is grossly inaccurate

[Raynor]

FTFA:

"On April 26, Hawking, surrounded by a medical entourage, is to take a zero-gravity ride out of Cape Canaveral on a so-called vomit comet, a padded aircraft that flies a roller-coaster trajectory to produce periods of weightlessness. He is getting his lift gratis, from Zero Gravity, a company that has been flying thrill seekers on a special Boeing 727-200 since 2004 at $3,500 a trip."

Zero Gravity is taking him up... NOT NASA. It's NOT the Vomit Comet (NASA's plane).

From a better article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17156385/page/2/

"Parabolic flights can pose a risk of motion sickness or more serious health effects, but Zero Gravity's flights have been structured to minimize the risk. During a typical flight, Zero Gravity's "G-Force One" jet makes a gradual transition to weightless parabolas, and provides significantly fewer bouts of weightlessness than NASA's "Vomit Comet" jet. "