Experience of a Lifetime
Eight children got to experience weightlessness on a parabolic flight on Aug. 24, 2017 with the help of the European Space Agency and Zero Gravity Corporation.
Read the full story here.
Flippin' Fun
Through a program called Kid's Weightless Dreams, eight children with disabilities from UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy participated in the fun and academia on a Zero-G plane.
A New Sensation
Before boarding the plane for the weightless flight, the children took part in a workshop put together by ESA Education about the concepts of gravity.
Walking on Air
Along with the children, two disabled adults joined the parabolic flight.
A Priceless Smile
All participants experienced full weightlessness and lunar gravity during the flight.
Advocating for Disabled Causes
The disabled adults who participated in the flight are both strong advocates for disabled causes. Seen here: Samuel Koch, a former athlete and German television personality, and Philippe Carette, a Rêve de Gosse volunteer.
Education and Diversity
ESA and its teams were delighted to partner with the Kid's Weightless Dreams campaign. Jan Wörner, ESA's director general, even joined the flight.
Upending Life
Novespace, a company that specializes in parabolic flight campaigns and Rêves de Gosse, an organization that arranges aviation-related projects culminating in a flight and has done so for over 20 years, worked together to create this experience. This year's project was extra special.
Weightlessness
One of the more intriguing aspects of spaceflight is microgravity, which is recreated as a plane flies in a parabolic pattern with dips and peaks.
Closer to Home
Performing experiments in microgravity on a parabolic flight is much less intensive than taking the tests to the International Space Station.
Demos
Aboard the flight, the children lit a candle, played ping-pong with bubbles and more to experience science in the weightlessness of microgravity.
