Friday, April 27, 2007

Stephen Hawking goes Zero G


Wow, Courtney scooped me on this one! Thanks for the tip!

Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking on Thursday fulfilled a dream of floating weightless in zero-gravity. A modified jet carrying Hawking, a handful of his physicians and nurses, and dozens of others flew up to 32,000 feet and made a parabolic dive back to 24,000 feet, allowing Hawking and the other passengers to experience weightlessness for about 25 seconds. Hawking, a mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge who has done groundbreaking work on black holes and the origins of the universe, has the paralyzing disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. "As you can imagine, I'm very excited," Hawking told reporters before the flight. "I have been wheelchair bound for almost four decades. The chance to float free in zero-g will be wonderful." The 65-year-old was the first person with a disability to experience the flight by Zero Gravity Corp. "I want to demonstrate to the public that anybody can participate in this type of weightless experience," Hawking said Thursday.

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