Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking will go on a “zero-gravity” flight on a refitted jet today. The jet creates the experience of microgravity in 25-second bursts of steep plunges over the Atlantic Ocean.
“For someone like me whose muscles don’t work very well, it will be bliss to be weightless,” Hawking told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.
The article goes on to say that the jet does 10-15 of these plunges on a single flight, and passengers pay $3,750 for the privilege (the fee has been waived for Hawking). Me, I’d be willing to pay that amount to anyone who promised that I’d never, ever have to be in a jet that was doing sharp plunges.