In Photos: Zero-G Flight Grants Weightless Wishes for Kids

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.