South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)

Zero-G flights let you feel like an astronaut

- By Rod Stafford Hagwood South Florida Sun Sentinel

Your opportunit­y to feel what it’s like to be weightless in space is coming to Fort Lauderdale.

The Zero-G flights will be taking off from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Internatio­nal Airport on Nov. 7, 10, 11 and 12.

“Each time is incredibly unique,” says Matt Gohd, CEO of the Zero Gravity Corporatio­n. “It’s hard to describe the experience itself because we don’t have reference for it.”

But we do have a price. The Zero-G experience is $6,700 per person.

There will also be a limited number of “Astronaut Experience” seats sold — with scientists sharing the flight, possibly doing research. Those flights start at $7,865 per person. For more informatio­n or to make a reservatio­n, go to GoZeroG.com.

Since their first commercial flight in 2004, Zero-G says that celebritie­s who have flown with them include Buzz Aldrin, Peter Jackson, George Takei, Justin Bieber, Kate Upton, Martha Stewart, the Osbourne family, Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Hawking.

Though before his time with the company, Gohd says there is lore about the impression the flight had on a paralyzed Hawking.

“The quote I heard was that Hawking said it was the first time in his life he has ever felt free.”

Um ... how does this actually work?

It’s all about the parabolic arc. “Think of throwing a ball up in the air,” explains Gohd. “As the ball gets to the top of that arc and starts to tip over, at the very top there, that is basically where that parabola is. At that point the ball has only its own inertia.”

In a refitted Boeing 727, passen

Turn to Flights, Page 3

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