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A reduced-gravity aircraft is a type of
fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are dist ...
that provides brief near-weightless environments for training
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s, conducting research and making gravity-free movie shots. Versions of such airplanes were operated by the
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
Reduced Gravity Research Program, and one is currently operated by the Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration Programmes of the European Space Agency. The unofficial nickname "vomit comet" became popular among those who experienced their operation.


History

Parabolic flight as a way of simulating weightlessness was first proposed by the German aerospace engineer Fritz Haber and the German physicist
Heinz Haber Heinz Haber (May 15, 1913 in Mannheim – February 13, 1990 in Hamburg) was a German physicist and science writer who primarily became known for his TV programs and books about physics and environmental subjects. His lucid style of explainin ...
in 1950. Both had been brought to the US after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
as part of
Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War ...
. As well,
Shih-Chun Wang Shih-Chun Wang (1910-1993) was a Chinese-American medical doctor, neuroscientist, and pharmacology professor. Early life and education Wang was born on January 25, 1910, in Tientsin, China. He attended Yenching University in Beijing where he rec ...
studied nausea in astronauts for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
, which helped lead to the creation of the vomit comet. Parabolic flights are sometimes used to examine the effects of weightlessness on a living organism. While humans are by far the most common passengers, non-human animals have occasionally been involved in experiments, including a notable experiment on how weightlessness affected a
domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...
's righting reflex and a
pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
's attempts to navigate in a weightless state.


Operating principles

The aircraft gives its occupants the sensation of weightlessness by following a parabolic flight path relative to the center of the Earth. While following this path, the aircraft and its payload are in free fall at certain points of its flight path. The aircraft is used in this way to demonstrate to astronauts what it is like to
orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...
the Earth. During this time the aircraft does not exert any ground reaction force on its contents, causing the sensation of weightlessness. Initially, the aircraft climbs with a pitch angle of 45 degrees using engine thrust and elevator controls. The sensation of weightlessness is achieved by reducing thrust and lowering the nose to maintain a neutral, or "zero lift", configuration such that the aircraft follows a ballistic trajectory, with engine thrust exactly compensating for drag. Weightlessness begins while ascending and lasts all the way "up-and-over the hump", until the craft reaches a downward pitch angle of around 30 degrees. At this point, the craft is pointing downward at high speed and must begin to pull back into the nose-up attitude to repeat the maneuver. The forces are then roughly twice that of gravity on the way down, at the bottom, and up again. This lasts all the way until the aircraft is again halfway up its upward trajectory, and the pilot again reduces the thrust and lowers the nose. This aircraft is used to train astronauts in zero-g maneuvers, giving them about 25 seconds of weightlessness out of 65 seconds of flight in each
parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactly the same curves. One descri ...
. During such training, the airplane typically flies about 40–60 parabolic maneuvers. In about two thirds of the passengers, these flights produce
nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of th ...
due to airsickness, giving the plane its nickname "vomit comet".


Operators


Canada

The
Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 202 ...
and the National Research Council have a
Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both ...
used for microgravity research. The small plane is normally not used for people to float freely and experience weightlessness; however, comedian
Rick Mercer Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer (born October 17, 1969) is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and author. He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' and ''Rick Merc ...
did so for a segment of his show.


Ecuador

The first zero G plane to enter service in Latin America is a T-39 Sabreliner nicknamed ''CONDOR'', operated for the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency and the Ecuadorian Air Force since May 2008. On June 19, 2008, this plane carried a seven-year-old boy, setting the Guinness world record for the youngest person to fly in microgravity.


Europe

Since 1984, ESA and the
CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...
have flown reduced-gravity missions in a variety of aircraft, including NASA's KC-135, a Caravelle, an Ilyushin IL-76 MDK and an
Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West ...
known as the '. In 2014 the A300 was phased out in favor of a more modern
Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...
, also named ''Zero-G''. It is based at Bordeaux-Mérignac airport in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, operated by Novespace, and has also been flown from
Paris Le Bourget airport Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and Dübendorf Air Base in Switzerland. Since 1997 CNES subsidiary Novespace has handled the management of these flights. This aircraft is used also to realize commercial flights for public passengers in partnership between operator Novespace and the Avico company, under Air Zero G brand. The aircraft has also been used for cinema purposes, with
Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...
and
Annabelle Wallis Annabelle Wallis (born 5 September 1984) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Jane Seymour in Showtime's period drama ''The Tudors'' (2009–2010), Grace Burgess in the BBC drama ''Peaky Blinders'' (2013–2022), Mia Form in t ...
filming for ''
The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places * Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in P ...
'' in 2017.


Russia

In Russia, commercial flights are offered on the
Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a com ...
jet; several U.S. companies book flights on these jets.


United States


NASA

NASA flew zero gravity flights on various aircraft for many years. In 1959 Project Mercury astronauts trained in a C-131 Samaritan aircraft dubbed the "vomit comet".. Page hosts a NASA photograph dated 01/01/1959. Twin
KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of trans ...
s were used until December 2004 and later retired. One, a KC-135A registered N930NA (also known as NASA 930, formerly USAF serial no. 59-1481), flew more than 58,000 parabolas after NASA acquired it in 1973, before being retired in 1995. It is now on display at Ellington Field, near the
Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late ...
. The other (N931NA or NASA 931, formerly AF serial no. 63-7998) was also used by
Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
and Imagine Entertainment for filming scenes involving weightlessness in the movie ''
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...
''; it made its final flight on October 29, 2004, and is permanently stored in the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. In 2005 NASA replaced the aircraft with a
McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it ...
C-9B Skytrain II (N932NA) formerly owned by
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally '' Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Ams ...
and the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. NASA concluded the Reduced Gravity Research Program and ended operations in July 2014, due to aircraft technical problems. It is replaced with private company contracts. NASA had a microgravity services contract with Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) and used its aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, a modified Boeing
727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller air ...
.


Other operators

In late 2004, the Zero Gravity Corporation became the first company in the United States to offer zero-g flights to the general public, using
Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller air ...
jets. Each flight consists of around 15 parabolas, including simulations of the gravity levels of the Moon and Mars, as well as complete weightlessness. This profile allows ZERO-G's clients to enjoy weightlessness with minimal motion discomfort. In 2015, Integrated Spaceflight Services, began serving as the research and education integrator of the
National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...
for the US market, offering comprehensive reduced-gravity services on a modified
Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both ...
aircraft. ISS has flown annual microgravity research campaigns to evaluate space suits and other technologies with Project PoSSUM. Aurora Aerospace in
Oldsmar, Florida Oldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 13,591. The Oldsmar name dates to April 12, 1916 when automobile pioneer Ransom E. Olds purchased of land by the northern part of Ta ...
offers zero-g flights using a
Fuji/Rockwell Commander 700 The Fuji/Rockwell Commander 700 is a light transport aircraft which was a joint Japanese-American development between Fuji Heavy Industries and Rockwell International. When Rockwell sold off the general aviation division the agreement was termin ...
. It is also used to simulate the gravity of the Moon and Mars.


Airsickness

According to former Reduced Gravity Research Program director John Yaniec, anxiety contributes most to passengers' airsickness. The stress on their bodies creates a sense of panic and therefore causes the passenger to vomit. Yaniec gives a rough estimate of passengers, that "one third ecome/nowiki> violently ill, the next third moderately ill, and the final third not at all." Vomiting is referred to as "ill".
Scopolamine Scopolamine, also known as hyoscine, or Devil's Breath, is a natural or synthetically produced tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic drug that is formally used as a medication for treating motion sickness and postoperative nausea and vomi ...
is often used as an
antiemetic An antiemetic is a drug that is effective against vomiting and nausea. Antiemetics are typically used to treat motion sickness and the side effects of opioid analgesics, general anaesthetics, and chemotherapy directed against cancer. They m ...
during reduced-gravity-aircraft training.


Use in media production

In 2016, rock group
OK Go OK Go is an American rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion), an ...
recorded a music video for their single Upside Down & Inside Out on a reduced-gravity aircraft, which involved acrobatic choreography created specifically for the zero-gravity environment. The adult entertainment production company
Private Media Group Private Media Group, Inc. is a Swedish production and distribution company that distributes adult entertainment via print publications, DVDs, the internet, and mobile. Origins ''Private'' magazine was established in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1 ...
has filmed a pornographic movie called ''The Uranus Experiment: Part Two'' where a zero-gravity intercourse scene was filmed aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft. The filming process was particularly difficult from a technical and logistical standpoint. Budget constraints allowed for only one shot, featuring the actors
Sylvia Saint Silvia Saint, born Silvie Tomčalová (born 12 February 1976) is a former Czech pornographic actress. In 1996 she was '' Penthouse'' Pet of the Year in the Czech edition of the magazine. She has appeared in over 300 pornographic movies. Early ...
and Nick Lang. Berth Milton, Jr, president and
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Private Media Group, says "You would not want to be afraid of flying, that's for sure!"


See also

*
Micro-g environment The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms '' weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the ...
*
Space tourism Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...
*
Astronaut training Astronaut training describes the complex process of preparing astronauts in regions around the world for their space missions before, during and after the flight, which includes medical tests, physical training, extra-vehicular activity (EVA) trai ...
* Fallturm Bremen


References


Further reading

* Haber, Fritz and Haber, Heinz: "Possible Methods of Producing the Gravity-Free State for Medical Research", ''Journal of Aviation Medicine'' XXI (1950). * Karmali, Faisal and Shelhamer, Mark
"The dynamics of parabolic flight: flight characteristics and passenger percepts"
Acta Astronautica (2008). * Easton, Pam (October 30, 2004)
NASA's weightless aircraft is retired
Associated Press. * Golightly, Glen (May 15, 2000)

Space.com Houston Bureau. * Overbye, Dennis (March 1, 2007), "Stephen Hawkin

to the ride of his life", ''New York Times''.


External links

{{commons category, Reduced gravity aircraft


Flight Opportunities program




* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060619203013/http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/ground/aircraft.htm About the NASA Reduced Gravity Research Program
Vegitel ltd is a Russian company that offers zero-gravity flights in an IL-76 MDK wide-body aircraft

Virtual tour of the Airbus A-300 Zero-G




+ Space science Weightlessness Aircraft related to spaceflight