LAS VEGAS -- Zero Gravity Corp. inaugurated service to Las Vegas April 21, the
latest step in the company's quest to give the average citizen the opportunity
to experience weightlessness the same way astronauts in training and in
spaceflight do.
"It's
a once in a lifetime experience here in a town where people expect a
once-in-a-lifetime experience," Peter Diamandis,
Zero G's chief executive officer and co-founder, said here during an April 23
pre-flight briefing for more than two-dozen customers decked out in flight
suits for their ride.
"This
is a fun and gentle experience. When you're up there it's almost Zen-like ... not
a roller coaster ride. So don't be nervous," he told them as they prepared
to board the airplane that would take them on a series of parabolic maneuvers
that are used to create brief periods of weightlessness, not unlike what
astronauts aboard the international space station experience full time.
Zero-G's
specially modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft -- G-Force One -- offers paying
customers a largely empty fuselage that becomes a padded playground as the
plane runs through its routine -- climbing and diving maneuvers that simulate
the microgravity that astronauts experience. Flight operations are being
conducted from Signature Air Terminal here at McCarran International
Airport.
"Basically,
one of my goals with Zero-G has been to make the experience of weightlessness
available to the broader general public," Diamandis
said in an earlier, April 17 phone interview. "That means getting it out
of the realm of just the space enthusiast and allowing the public to more
directly participate in space ... to broaden the base of supporters."
Diamandis said his company since its formation in late 2004 has flown
more than 100 flights, carrying more than 2,500 individuals. Over that period
of time, five key markets have evolved and are being addressed by Zero-G:
general public travel, corporate incentive flights, educator and student
participants, television and movie production support, and private and
government research flights.
"It
took us 11 years to get our approvals in place and to get operational," Diamandis said. Zero-G now has one dedicated airplane and
one part-time access to another aircraft as backup. The firm is planning to add
a second dedicated aircraft in about a year's time, he said.
"Our
game plan is that we hope the business picks up," Diamandis
said, "and we hope to capture NASA's business as well. We're also looking
at operations overseas, with interest for getting flight operations going in Singapore and Dubai."
Diamandis said that on the order of $20 million in private funds has
been invested in Zero-G to date.
Zero-G
has recently purchased a Boeing 727 aircraft, said Noah McMahon, chief
marketing officer of the company. "We are in the midst of taking that
airplane and making it the perfect parabolic flight aircraft," he said.
While
NASA has flown microgravity research flights for about 50 years, very few
civilians have been exposed to the experience, McMahon said.
What
space shuttle astronauts experience in Earth orbit was likened to a Zero-G flight. "The only issue is that we only get about 30
seconds at a time, we don't get to be up there for a few days. What you'll be
experiencing today is real ... it's exactly what astronauts experience,"
McMahon advised before aircraft takeoff.
A
skilled flight crew puts the plane in carefully controlled ascent and descent
maneuvers of the plane, with customers first experiencing Mars gravity
(one-third Earth's pull), followed by lunar gravity (one-sixth Earth's gravity)
and then zero gravity.
Consumer
marketing
The
gradations of gravity help participants gradually adapt to the experience. That
gradual conditioning and the positioning of clients during the plane's
maneuvers help minimize a person's susceptibility of motion sickness. A
very light dosage of medication also is available to participants.
"We've
knocked motion sickness down to a point where it's not a concern," Diamandis said.
Within
three designated zones inside the aircraft, flight groups are broken into teams
and assigned coaches to help maximize a customer's microgravity experience.
Last
month, Zero-G established a relationship with the Sharper Image Corp. to
exclusively market and sell seats on its public flights. Starting May 15,
reservations for seats on the Zero-G Experience will be made available through
Sharper Image's specialty retail stores and via the company's monthly consumer
catalog.
Offered
at a price of $3,500 per seat plus tax, those taking part in a 90-minute period
experience 15 parabolas, as well as take home items like their flight suit,
photographs and a DVD of their encounter with microgravity. Charter flights
cost $115,000 and fly up to 35 people.
Zero-G
also has regularly scheduled flights from the Kennedy
Space Center
in Florida.
Entrée
into the next frontier
The
first official public flight from Las
Vegas was April 21, followed by an April 23 VIP/media
day.
To
celebrate the start of Zero-G operations from Las Vegas, the private VIP flight
carried such notables as Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin,
as well as key Las Vegas casino executives, including entertainer Raymond
Teller [he goes only by his last name on stage] of the magic and comedy team,
Penn and Teller.
In
post-flight festivities, customer satisfaction was evident.
"It
was one of the most exciting, exhilarating and un-duplicatable
experiences that I can imagine," said Felix Rappaport,
president of Luxor Hotel and Casino in a post-flight interview. "No matter
how much video you see ... no matter how much people describe it ... until you are
there you can't describe the exhilaration," he told Space News.
Writer
Stefanie Michaels, Los Angeles-based author of the "Adventure Girl"
series of books and senior travel editor with Affluent magazine, admitted to
closet astronaut status.
"It
was more than I thought I could experience," she said, "and I didn't
have to become a scientist or go through all that NASA training. For me, this
is the next generation, my first entrée into the next frontier."
Currently,
future Zero-G flights out of Las Vegas are slated for the following dates: May
26; June 16, 17 and 30; August 4; September 1 and 2; October 6; November 10;
and December 30 and 31.
