SPACE enthusiasts with $10 000 to spare will soon be able to get a
stomach-churning taste of the high life. Casey Aerospace, headed by former
astronaut Ed Gibson, plans to offer a one-day “space experience”, including a
flight on an aircraft that will make a series of dives to simulate
weightlessness. The company aims to open a $50-million complex at a site
in central Florida in 1998.
The plane used by NASA for weightlessness training—pictured above
during testing of a zero-gravity shower—has been nicknamed “the Vomit
Comet” because of the nausea-inducing effects of repeated dives. But Gibson says
most people can take 10 dives without ill effects. “We want to make sure that
everybody comes away with a positive experience,” he says.
Those who lack the stomach for freefall can stay on the ground, where a
centrifuge will simulate the acceleration of a launch.
