Photos: Zero-Gravity Science at NASA's Microgravity University

NASA Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program

NASA

NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program offers students and teachers the chance to conduct experiments aboard modified jets that create brief stints of weightlessness during parabolic flights. The program is based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. [Read the Full Story]

Zero-G Fires: UCSD Microgravity Team

SPACE.com/Cady Coleman

Student engineers Daneesha Kenyon (left), Jack Goodwin (center) and Sam Avery (center right) with the UCSD Microgravity Team study biofuel fires in weightlessness during NASA Microgravity University flight on a ZERO-G flight based out of Ellington Field, Houston on July 19, 2013. NASA astronaut Mike Fossum (bottom left in blue flight suit) and SPACE.com's Tariq Malik (far right) observe the experiment. Astronaut Cady Coleman took this photo. [Read the Full Story]

UCSD Microgravity Team and Mike Fossum

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum poses for a snapshot with the UC San Diego Microgravity Team during a weightless research flight with NASA's Microgravity University on July 19, 2013. The team studied how biofuels burn in zero-gravity conditions. [Read the Full Story]

NASA Reduced Gravity Flight Paths

NASA Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program

This NASA graphic depicts the parabolic flight path for weightless science flights under NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. [Read the Full Story]

UCSD Microgravity team: Go for Flight

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

Members of the UCSD Microgravity Team await their first weightless flight on Zero Gravity Corporation's G-Force One jet on July 19, 2013, during NASA's Microgravity University weightless flight week. The University of California, San Diego team is: (left to right): Daneesha Kenyon, Andrew Beeler, Joshua Siu, Victor Hong, Nico Montoya, Joshua Sullivan, team leader Sam Avery, and Jack Goodwin. NASA mentor Christina Gallegos not pictured. [Read the Full Story]

Zero Gravity Corporation's G-Force One

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

G-Force One, a Zero Gravity Corporation jet for weightless flights, sits at Ellington Field in Houston awaiting a NASA microgravity flight on July 18, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

NASA Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program: Manager

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

Frank Prochaska, NASA's student campaigns manager for the Reduced Gravity Eductation Flight Program, gives SPACE.com's Tariq Malik a thumb's up as a microgravity fligth takes off on a Zero Gravity Corporation jet on July 19, 2013, from Ellington Field in Houston. [Read the Full Story]

UCSD Microgravity Team

Tariq Malik/SPACE.com

Engineering students with the UCSD Microgravity Team from the University of California, San Diego, stands near their biofuel experiment to test weightless flames ahead of a NASA Microgravity University flight at Ellington Field in Houston. The are: (clockwise from left): Joshua Siu, Sam Avery, Jack Goodwin, Andrew Beeler, Daneesha Kenyon, Joshua Sullivan, Nico Montoya, and Victor Hong. NASA mentor Christina Gallegos is not pictured. Image taken on July 18, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

UCSD Microgravity Team: Flight Day

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

The UCSD Microgravity Team looks over plans for their biofuels experiment ahead of a weightless flight with NASA's Microgravity University at Ellington Field, Houston, on July 18, 2013. [Read the Full Story]

UCSD Microgravity Team: Waiting for Takeoff

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

Members of the University of California, San Diego Microgravity Team wait with their biofuel fire experiment apparatus ahead of a weightless flight as part of NASA's Microgravity University Program. Image taken July 17, 2013 at Ellington Field, Houston. They are: (clockwise from top left): Jack Goodwin, Victor Hong, team leader Sam Avery, and Daneesha Kenyon. [Read the Full Story]

NASA Microgravity University Hangar

SPACE.com/Tariq Malik

Teams of students and teachers prepare their experiments for weightless tests inside a NASA hangar at Ellington Field in Houston during NASA's Microgravity University Program flight week on July 17, 2013. Fourteen teams were selected to fly experiments in weightless conditions aboard a modified jet as part of NASA's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. [Read the Full Story]

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Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.