Being Weightless
So what is it like to ride on the weightless airplane? The first thing that you have to do is be certified to ride. You do this by getting a physical exam from a doctor and then going through physiological training. The training includes classroom lessons (so that you can understand what will be happening and what to expect), and a session in an altitude chamber. The altitude chamber lets you experience what can happen if your brain does not get enough oxygen.

Photo courtesy NASA John Yaniec, lead test director - Reduced Gravity Office, helps to stabilize Dorothy M. (Dottie) Metcalf-Lindenburger, educator mission specialist astronaut candidate, during one of a series of reduced gravity sessions provided by special parabolas flown by the KC-135 aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico.

On the morning of the flight, you arrive and get your flight suit. You walk out to the airplane. NASA uses a C-9, which is a modified version of the DC-9 passenger plane. The inside of the plane is padded, and the test area is open (except where experiments have been mounted to the floor or the wall). The test area is roomy -- 45 feet long, 8 feet, 6 inches wide and 7 feet, 6 inches tall.

You get on the plane and it takes you up to start flying parabolas. You get to be weightless as the plane crests up toward the top of the parabola at 32,000 feet and starts falling. The weightless experience lasts about 25 seconds. The plane then pulls out of the fall at about 24,000 feet and starts flying back up. You feel almost twice the force of gravity (1.8G) during the trip back up. Then the cycle repeats. You get 40 to 50 weightless periods on a normal flight, and the flight takes two to three hours total.

Photo courtesy NASA A number of NASA's 2004 class of astronaut candidates and some JAXA astronauts tumble during one of a series of reduced gravity sessions provided by special parabolas flown by a KC-135 aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico.

One minor problem with all of this going up and down is that it makes a lot of people sick. Motion sickness is very common -- more than half of the people get a case of motion sickness. That's why an earlier version of the plane was called the "Vomit Comet." Many people on the flight take motion sickness medicine. One of the best drugs for stopping motion sickness is Scopolamine, but it does not work for everyone.

HUGE $AVINGS The big advantage to weightless research in NASA's C-9 is that it is a lot less expensive than taking something into space. NASA has been able to create and test equipment on Earth long before it flies into space. Students and researchers can design experiments that will fly in the space shuttle or to the space station and test them in a small way here on Earth, first. Can you think of something that you would like to try in weightlessness? You should talk to a teacher and start designing the experiment. NASA does fly student projects, although most of the students are in college. However, it doesn't hurt to start thinking about it. Start working on your ideas now -- you'll be in college before you know it.