EnTech: This Zero-Gravity Training Plane Only Carries Science

This Zero-Gravity Training Plane Only Carries Science

NASA’s vomit comet is a second-hand McDonnell Douglas C-9B Skytrain II, a hollowed-out airliner that can briefly create weightless conditions for the occupants. But NASA isn’t the only one with toys: the ESA also maintains its own weightless training aircraft, a stripped-out Airbus A310.

NASA's Vomit Comet Trains Astronauts in the Ways of Weightlessness NASA's Vomit Comet Trains Astronauts in the Ways of Weightlessness NASA's Vomit Comet Trains Astronauts in the Wa

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In order to create brief periods of weightlessness, pilots climb, top out, and then dive at 50 degree angles. During the top-out, the forces on the pilots and passengers cancel each other out. The ESA uses it to conduct experiments in zero-gravity, as well as to train astronauts.
The scary all-white walls are thanks to the padding. The flipside to zero weightlessness at the top of the climb is crushing twice-normal gravity at the bottom. The padding helps make that face-melting experience a little more comfortable.
Image credit: ESA

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