Geeks in Spaaaaaaace

So I finally got my trip with Zero G. Sunday morning I took a cab to the training building just a couple miles from the hotel we were staying at. I arrived way too early but hung around in the lobby until others started showing up. I got checked in, met some of the crew including my team captain. They divide the group up into 3 sections denoted by the color of the bracelet and socks they give you. Silver, blue, and gold are the three teams. As you can see from the pic, I am in the silver team. This just makes it easier for the team leaders to keep track of people. Since there were only 16 of us instead of the usual 35 we had a lot more room and the colors didn't play too huge a roll. They got me a flightsuit and I started getting my hat camera wiring ready to go and got the ok from them to bring it with me. I designed my system for wearing it so that it wouldn't be like rocket science taking it on and off which turned out to be a very good thing. The one downside is I started noticing the adhesive on the velcro holding the camera to my hat was starting to wear out.

As more people started showing up they had a nice zero gravity friendly breakfast lined up. We ate a light meal and talked amongst ourselves and with Buzz Aldrin until it was time for the pre-flight videos and safety briefing. They played us a video describing the trip we were about to go on, some fun things to do in zero g, and all the required safety information and features of the modified 727 named G Force One.

Following the videos and other information, we were again encouraged to have a light snack and then to security screening. Like any other commercial flight you have to go through TSA screening before you can get on the plane. They operate a little differently though. We flew out of McCarran airport like a normal commercial airplane out of Vegas but we didn't go through the terminal. Instead an official screened us with metal detectors and sent us to wait in a bus to go directly to the plane on the tarmac. We rode in through a secure gate at one of the private jet companies at McCarran and drove out to the 727.

We got off the bus and gathered for some group photos and began lining up with boarding passes in hand to enter the plane. Unlike boarding your normal jets, we climbed up a staircase in the very rear of the plane. The 727 has no windows (except in the emergency exits), no bathroom (wouldn't want to have to use one on a parabolic flight anyways!), and few seats. It is basically a big, flying, hollow tube. It is a good looking plane though and doesn't show it's age. They keep it in pretty good shape.

I took my seat in the middle (won't catch me doing that on a normal airline either :) window seat or else! but no windows, so I guess my rule didn't apply ;) ) of the front-most row and got belted in. As we waited for what seemed like hours waiting in line with all the other airplanes trying to leave LAS we got the usual spiel about the emergency exits, oxygen and how to use it (as a side note, oxygen is located below you on this plane due to the fact that there are no overhead compartments), in the event of a water landing, etc. etc...

After an undetermined amount of time we finally got off the ground and headed into our allocated airspace somewhere out in the middle of the Nevada desert. Their airspace allows them freedom from ~24,000 ft to ~35,000 ft and so the parabolas are within that window. We did 15 parabolas. 1 martian (1/3 normal gravity), 2 lunar (1/6 normal gravity), and 12 zero g. During the periods when we are not in reduced gravity environment the g's range typically around 1.8 which means you feel nearly twice as heavy as you normally would. The reduced gravity portions last ~30 seconds each.

It was all great fun! I am sure I look really goofy but I don't care. It is hard to control yourself and I pretty much stopped caring and just had fun and wherever I went is where I was. On the second zero g parabola we chased skittles around, on a later one we played around with water and on the last one I did some flips (although I did a few on other parabolas by the looks of it too lol). Fly like superman or worm your way around the fuselage there isn't much you can't do. On one I managed to get myself to one of the little windows in the door and attempted to get a good shot of the outside with mixed results and on one of the lunar parabolas I did a mid-air somersault with help of my team leader. Buzz Aldrin roamed between the different groups and we all had fun floating around with him. We had two small breaks of straight and level flight to give everyone a little break. Most people did pretty good. I saw a few people get sick and have to sit out some or the rest of the trip but I was fine and so was most everyone else. I didn't take any chances though, I took motion sickness medication before we left.

The whole trip lasted just under 2 hours with a combined total of ~8 minutes of weightlessness. We posed for some last minute group photos and got back to our seats for landing. We de-planed and got our pictures taken with Buzz and two of the very nice people of Zero G at the rear of the plane and got back on the bus back to the training facility.

When we got back there were sandwiches and champagne waiting for us and we had a little event where they handed us certificates and shook hands with Buzz Aldrin. Shortly thereafter I got a ride back to the Luxor from one of the flyers and a few hours later was dinner.

Dinner as mentioned in the previous post was at the Fluer De Lys at Mandalay Bay. Right next to the Luxor I just walked over. There I had a wonderful evening with the group and crew of our flight. Buzz stayed for a while but had to catch a plane and I stayed talking with everyone until about 9:15. I had a lot of fun and it was well worth the hassle I went through. The people at Zero-G made everything right and I would gladly fly again. Thanks.