letter | My first zero gravity flight experience

writing: by Ray Kurzweil
January 1, 2020

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— contents —

~ letter
~ about
~ reference


— letter —

Dear readers,

I got the chance to experience zero gravity at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. I participated in my first Zero G flight aboard an aircraft in parabolic flight. The plane flies up, and then down — is a repeating arc-like pattern. When it’s on the down slope it’s matching free-fall, so you’re basically falling with the plane. The effect is like floating weightless in space.

It was a transcendent + surreal experience. Your body doesn’t know what weightlessness is. We spend our whole lives under gravity. So floating, like astronauts do in space, is just an idea. But when you actually experience it, it’s phenomenal. It’s strange and exhilarating at the same time.

We really did get to transcend gravity. I’ve lived with the physics of gravity since birth. So it feels liberating when gravity disappears and you just float away in the air. Transcendence is what human life is all about, and gravity is just one more barrier anybody can now overcome — at least temporarily.

I think the most important restriction that we’ll ultimately transcend is the limitation of our own minds. Expanding our brains by merging with our intelligent tech will enable us to transcend every other kind of barrier. That’s the essence of the Singularity.

The plane flew a parabolic arc that created the same gravity found on the planet Mars— that’s 1/3 G — and G is the gravity of Earth. I easily did some one-armed push-ups. Then the plane did 2 arcs that created the same gravity found on the moon — that’s 1/6 G. At that level of weightlessness I took big leaps and small jumps. Then the plane did 12 zero-G cycles, which was like floating in space.

The flight path is 100 miles long and ten miles wide.  During the whole time of the flight, you never truly get used to the feeling of the reduced gravity. Your body logic doesn’t quite catch-up to what’s happening. But it’s not frightening. Because the arcs are consistent + repetitive, you can get into the sensation — and adjust without getting scared. But it never loses that thrill.

I hope you’ll one day get take a Zero G ride. The company does a good job making the flights accessible. It’s expensive but not un-affordable. I’d definitely recommend saving-up for it, integrating the flight as part of a vacation. It’s definitely worth it. You take-away an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience — one that will forever shift your perspective.

Ray Kurzweil


—check it out —

group: Zero G
tag line: The weightless experience.
web: home • channel


— about —

Access to a space-like environment.

Zero G’s Weightless Lab research program offers unprecedented + affordable access to space environments — so clients can conduct:

  • bio-medical  + pharmaceutical research
  • fluid and fundamental physics
  • materials science
  • aerospace engineerin
  • space exploration hardware
  • human space habitation

The value of Zero G.

Past clients like: Ball Aerospace + Technologies, the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mayo Clinic, Purdue University, and Tethers Unlimited — said that parabolic flight is a critical first step to achieve their space research objectives. And for raising test-readiness levels to better ensure experiment will succeed.


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reference


a. |

group: Kennedy Space Center
tag line: Explore space.
web: home • channel

presented by

group: NASA
tag line:
web: home • channel


— notes —

NASA =
JPL = the Jet Propulsion Laboratory