Zero Gravity Corporation (also known as Zero-G, stylized as ''zero G'') is an American company based in Exploration Park, Florida, formerly of

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...

, which operates weightless flights from United States airports. Unlike

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 ...

, Zero-G is governed under Part 121 of FAA regulations (as are all US commercial passenger and cargo airlines) enabling the company to cater to both tourists and researchers alike.

History

Founded by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, astronaut

Byron K. Lichtenberg Byron Kurt Lichtenberg, Sc. D. (born February 19, 1948) is an American engineer and fighter pilot who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a Payload Specialist. In 1983, he and Ulf Merbold became the first Payload Specialists to fly o ...

, and NASA engineer Ray Cronise, the company has been operating weightless flights since 2004. Over 15000 were clients as of November 2017. A number of notable passengers have been on weightless flights run by the company, including

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured i ...

and Teller,

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pu ...

Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (; born June 17, 1943) is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the recor ...

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

, Casey Neistat,

John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Doo ...

, and

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

Theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experime ...

Stephen Hawking also completed a shortened flight on April 26, 2007. In April 2006, Zero-G became the first commercial company to gain permission from the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...

to use its space shuttle runway and landing facilities. On April 21, 2007, it began regular flights from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

for the general public at ticket prices of US$3,675. ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'' aired promotional footage featuring the show's weatherman Sam Champion during a preview flight in

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. On December 9, 2007, Zero G hosted Adam Savage and

Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born September 25, 1956) is an American special effects expert who is best known as the former co-host of the television series '' MythBusters'' alongside Adam Savage, where he became known for his distinctive beret and ...

of ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internation ...

'' to disprove the conspiracy theory that the Apollo Moon landing was a hoax. In March 2008, the company was acquired by

Space Adventures Space Adventures, Inc. is an American space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. Its offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights (with the option to participate in a spacewalk), and other spacefl ...

. On April 20, 2011, a Safety Approval was granted to Zero-G by the FAA which allows the company to "...offer reduced gravity parabolic flights to prospective suborbital launch operators to meet the applicable components of the crew qualification and training requirements outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations (14 C.F.R., Section 460.5)."

Flight experience

, the price of a flight for a single passenger starts at US$8,200. The unique Weightless Weddings Experience is also included in the list of services Noah and Erin Fulmor were the first couple to get married in weightlessness. Fliers undergo a brief training session before embarking. A flight lasts 90 to 100 minutes, and consists of fifteen parabolas, each of which simulates about 30 seconds of reduced gravity: one that simulates

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pr ...

gravity (one-third of Earth's), two that simulate

Lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

gravity (one-sixth of Earth's), and 12 that simulate weightlessness. Each parabola begins with the aircraft climbing at a 45-degree angle at approximately , peaks at , and ends with the aircraft pointed down at a 30-degree angle.

Fleet

The company owns and operates a Boeing 727-227F Advanced, registration N794AJ, dubbed "G-FORCE ONE". It flies parabolic arcs similar to those of

KC-135 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 transport ...

reduced gravity aircraft.

Zero-G research programs

Zero-G’s Weightless Lab research program provides unprecedented access to space environments so clients may achieve technological advances in biomedical and pharmaceutical research, fluid and fundamental physics, materials science, aerospace engineering, space exploration hardware and human space habitation, at a price that will fit any budget. Past clients, such a
Ball Aerospace & Technologies CorporationCalifornia Institute of Technology
Harvard University, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mayo Clinic
Purdue University
and Tethers Unlimited, reported that parabolic flight are a critical first step toward achieving their space research objectives and raising test readiness levels to better ensure experiments will succeed.

Research flights for NASA

NASA has a microgravity services contract with Zero-G, which provided the first flights under this contract on September 9 and 10, 2008. Flight time from Ellington Field near

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 ...

was provided for the FASTRACK Space Experiment Platform. The flights were funded by NASA's Strategic Capabilities and Assets Program.

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.gozerog.com
Farewell to Gravity
(Wired article by Xeni Jardin)
Notes on Zero-G flight
by

(September 26, 2004) Companies based in Florida