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Swiss Space Systems Announces Plan To Offer World's Cheapest Zero-G Flights

Posted by samzenpus on from the discount-vomit-rocket dept.

Zothecula (1870348) writes "Although you'll probably never make it to outer space, Swiss Space Systems (S3) is at least trying to move the zero-gravity experience a little closer to reality for the average person. This week, the company announced its plans to start offering what it claims will be the world's cheapest weightlessness-inducing flights, from 15 international locations."

45 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by Squidlips · · Score: 1

    Gives a new meaning to Hurling Through Space... Do they scrub it down between flight? Maybe not on discount flights. Mmmm will smell great... Bring your cat...

    1. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by Charliemopps · · Score: 2

      Gives a new meaning to Hurling Through Space...

      Do they scrub it down between flight? Maybe not on discount flights. Mmmm will smell great...

      Bring your cat...

      That depends on how they design it. A while back I was going to start my own bar and when it came to the bathroom design I was going to have it tiled, floor, ceiling and walls. With shower heads in the ceiling and a central drain with an industrial garbage disposal in the floor. The plumber thought I was a genius when he quoted it(probably because it wasn't going to be cheap) but I eventually abandon the entire venture when I realized I'd be a hardcore alcoholic within 6 months if I went ahead with it.

    2. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

      If that was your only worry about opening a bar... Here in Montreal within a week you'll have your local thugs muscling in. No matter how upscale the neighborhood looks during the day. I used to work in Old Montreal when there was a broad daylight assassination on my street. The bar also had regular stabbings at night...

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    3. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by spitzak · · Score: 2

      According to the FA it is divided into 3 rooms (first class, second, and budget?). Maybe they only clean the first two between flights.

    4. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      A friend did something similar with his kids bathroom.

      Used a product similar to truck bed liner, but made to go over stick/tile backer board construction.

      When he has to clean it, he just turns on the shower and uses the hand held shower-head (aka 'the wife's best friend') to wash the whole room down.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    5. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      when it came to the bathroom design I was going to have it tiled, floor, ceiling and walls. With shower heads in the ceiling and a central drain with an industrial garbage disposal in the floor.

      I have seen bathrooms like that in Japan (except for the garbage disposal). Basically, the whole bathroom is a shower stall. It saves space in a tiny apartment, and makes cleaning easy.

    6. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

      I have seen bathrooms like that in Japan

      In Japan you wash yourself - soap down and rinse - *outside* the tub. You only get into the tub after you're clean. So yes, the entire room *is* a shower stall.

      That's why the toilet is in a completely different room from the tub.

    7. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      If that was your only worry about opening a bar... Here in Montreal within a week you'll have your local thugs muscling in. No matter how upscale the neighborhood looks during the day. I used to work in Old Montreal when there was a broad daylight assassination on my street. The bar also had regular stabbings at night...

      Yea, I have an uncle that ran a bar as well. Those guys tend to stop bothering you when you pull a 12guage out from under the counter. You can't do that in Montreal though I don't think.

    8. Re:What could go wrong with the Vomit Comet? by Deadstick · · Score: 1

      Airplane barf is a well-explored phenomenon. To quote The Graduate, plastics.

  2. cheapest "weightless" experience by OglinTatas · · Score: 4, Funny

    For 1 dollar I will push you off a cliff. You'll have to sign a waiver first though, because the safety record is atrocious.

    --
    More music, fewer hits
    1. Re:cheapest "weightless" experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      For 1 dollar I will push you off a cliff. You'll have to sign a waiver first though, because the safety record is atrocious.

      For $0.99 I will push you off a high dive. It cheeper and safer than my competitors company that will try to kill you.

    2. Re:cheapest "weightless" experience by tquasar · · Score: 1

      I just poke the "down" button and jump when the elevator starts moving.

    3. Re:cheapest "weightless" experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And I, Bruno the Magnificent, will dive 1000 feet onto a block of cement! On my head even!

  3. Pricing by mmmmbeer · · Score: 3, Informative

    FTFA:

    The planes will be divided into three sections. For a price of under €2,000 (US$2,700), you'll get to share the Party Room with up to 39 other "cheapskates" (for comparison, flights with one of S3's established competitors start at $4,950). If you're willing to pay €5,000 ($6,800), however, you can be one of 28 people in the Premium Zone – this will include the chance to play with items such as liquids and balloons, plus it will get you an exclusive Breitling S3 ZeroG wristwatch and an S3 flight suit to take home.

    Finally, a dozen passengers can enjoy a "tailor-made experience" in the VIP Room, which will cost an even €50,000 ($68,000) to book – all of those people will also get a watch and a flight suit.

    1. Re:Pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      is whoring legal in switzerland? for €50K in the "VIP room" i'd better get a blowjob along with my watch and souvenir suit.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    2. Re:Pricing by OglinTatas · · Score: 1

      how much for a private room where you can attempt to bone your partner? (apparently there are some difficulties maintaining position in zero g)

      Or is that what the "party room" is for?

      --
      More music, fewer hits
    3. Re:Pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      holy shit! slashdot now accepts (a subset of) unicode input without mangling it! welcome to the 21st century.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    4. Re:Pricing by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      FTFA:

      Finally, a dozen passengers can enjoy a "tailor-made experience" in the VIP Room, which will cost an even €50,000 ($68,000) to book – all of those people will also get a watch and a flight suit.

      and a 0G lap dance!

    5. Re:Pricing by BattleApple · · Score: 1

      Thank you.
      If only slashdot could figure out a way to take the most relevant information in an article.. and somehow put it at the top of the comment section.. Hmm, what could we call it?

    6. Re:Pricing by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      how much for a private room where you can attempt to bone your partner? (apparently there are some difficulties maintaining position in zero g)

      Well, more than that, if this is using the same techniques as the vomit comet NASA uses, you only get 'weightless' for about 30 seconds or so at a time before the plane has to do it all over again.

      You're not going to get several consecutive minutes of this.

      So, coitus interruptus is going to be a pretty constant problem, and the flight crew is going to have to be constantly tending to you to ensure you don't crash into the fuselage.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm sure someone would pay good money for that. I just don't think it would be nearly as cool as it sounds.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    7. Re:Pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      no, but i must have missed the memo.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    8. Re:Pricing by Atrox666 · · Score: 1

      Fundies, underwear for two. Look it up, where there's a will there's a way.

    9. Re:Pricing by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      is whoring legal in switzerland? for â50K in the "VIP room" i'd better get a blowjob along with my watch and souvenir suit.

      Given it's probably like the Vomit Comet, if you can get it done in 30 seconds, then yeah. If not, well, it's going to be... interesting.

      After all, Zero-G did it first, but they charge around $5k/person, so this Swiss company doing it for half that price is interesting.

      Then again, I think the Zero-G experience is more of the "premium" experience, so the prices are comparable. It's just they have a low cost version where you can float around a bit.

    10. Re:Pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      uh, countries with legalized prostitution still have men buying women drinks. it's still cheaper than a whore (relative to the bar; if you go to an expensive bar, the 'equivalent' whore would be proportionally more expensive of course), and often you have more options, not to mention that the process as a whole is more enjoyable, at least for me.

      btw, you don't need to spend a lot on drinks if you don't want to, and many schools of thought (both feminist and "PUA") say you shouldn't. you just need other redeeming qualities and a bit of spine. i've gotten laid at a fairly respectable rate without spending a cent.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    11. Re:Pricing by delt0r · · Score: 1

      Clearly you have never lived in Switzerland. For 50K you mite get a car park for a year or a cheap watch, they may even let you open a "peasant" bank account, but if you want a BJ you going to have to live with a 60year old that hasn't had a STD test for 20 years. And its probably a dude.

      --
      If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
    12. Re:Pricing by retchdog · · Score: 1

      +5, Informative.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  4. maybe steer clear of Princess cruises by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    Sounds like an ideal way to transmit norovirus. Be sure to schedule a flight before going on your holiday cruise.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  5. Good. by Jethro · · Score: 2

    I like this trend. Ok, it's not a trend yet but I hope it will be. Yeah, I'll probably never make it into space and even if I do it'll probably only be "technically" space, rather than OH MY GOD I'M IN SPACE. But this is something I've always wanted to do, but I'd rather not spend $5K on it.

    So come on, more competition, preferably while I'm still young!

    --


    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
  6. Cant be cheap!!! by Glazan · · Score: 1

    It will nobody go to this project.NEVER EVER.First of all it costs too much and many people are scared of it.With the money, I could buy many good things.

    1. Re:Cant be cheap!!! by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Never underestimate what people with lots of money will spend it on.

      I'd love to have about 1% of all of the money wasted in expensive champagne which is sprayed in hipster VIP lounges every year -- I'm betting I could pay off my house pretty quickly.

      And the more money people have, the stupider the things they spend it on.

      Oh, to have that problem. I'd love to have enough money that I could spend stuff on stupid shit and not care.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Cant be cheap!!! by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Fortran

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    3. Re:Cant be cheap!!! by onkelonkel · · Score: 1

      Algol W!

      --
      None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
    4. Re:Cant be cheap!!! by Existential+Wombat · · Score: 1

      Cesil

  7. Although you'll probably never make it to outer... by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    Rude!!

  8. Cheaper solution by Atrox666 · · Score: 1

    Malaysian Airlines?

    1. Re:Cheaper solution by Graydyn+Young · · Score: 1

      Too soon.

  9. Re:no such thing as zero-g. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    You can never be out of the pull of Jupiter's gravity. You can never be out of the pull of that dust bunny in the corner of the room's gravity. You can never be out of the pull of YO MAMA'S gravity.

  10. TPS Report, Not Memo by HannethCom · · Score: 1

    You must have missed the TPS Report. Slashdot Beta was also perfectly outlined in a TPS Report as well, but I guess no one payed attention before it was almost ready to release.

    --
    Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
    1. Re:TPS Report, Not Memo by retchdog · · Score: 1

      sorry i missed it; must have been the new coversheet.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  11. Re:never my ass by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

    fanboy alert. It's just biz, not science. if you really want to get a feeling of zero G, there are many cheaper alternatives out there.

    Like scuba diving.

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  12. Re:no such thing as zero-g. by Deadstick · · Score: 1

    Capital G is the symbol for a unit of acceleration equal to 9.80665 m/s^2, which is the acceleration of Earth gravity. Accelerometers read acceleration in G units, and that includes the one in your cellphone. Take that phone on a Vomit Comet ride, and you will indeed see zero G's on it.

  13. Re:never my ass by Deadstick · · Score: 1

    if you really want to get a feeling of zero G, there are many cheaper alternatives out there.

    Indeed. If you'll be happy with three or four seconds of it, and you have a friend with a Cessna, he can do it for a couple of gallons of gas (though a flight instructor will usually do a better job).

  14. Re:never my ass by davester666 · · Score: 1

    this sounds like exactly the kind of thing you want the cheapest provider to perform the service...

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  15. Re:no such thing as zero-g. by ssam · · Score: 1

    "Do you really expect me to do coordinate transforms in my head while free falling in a plane?"

  16. This isn't anything new by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    Have you seen airliners on terminal approach to Luton Airport? If that doesn't leave you with your balls in your mouth just watching from the ground, you're not paying attention. They hit harder than carrier landings there.

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel