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Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking floated free in zero gravity Thursday, becoming the first person with a disability to have the experience.
The zero-gravity flight in a modified jet creates the experience of microgravity during 25-second plunges -- called parabolas -- over the Atlantic Ocean.
"It was amazing," Hawking, paralyzed by a progressive neurological disorder, said afterward through an electronic device. (Go on a zero-gravity flight)
"The zero-G part was wonderful and the full-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. (Watch Hawking float around in zero-G 
)
"Space, here I come."
Hawking, a mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge who has done groundbreaking work on black holes and the origins of the universe, has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He cannot speak or move.
He is one of the best-known theoretical physicists of his generation and also wrote the book "A Brief History of Time."
A doctor and three nurses monitored Hawking throughout the Zero Gravity Corp. flight. The scientist floated in the air, free of his wheelchair and electronic communication gear for the first time in 40 years.
The jet's interior is padded to protect the weightless fliers and is equipped with cameras to record their adventure. Normally, the plane conducts 10 to 15 plunges for its passengers who pay $3,750 for the ride, although that fee was waived for Hawking.
After the jet reached its proper altitude, Hawking's assistants lifted him out of his seat and laid him on his back in the front of the cabin for the first plunge.
"We consider ... having him weightless for 25 seconds is a successful mission," Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of Zero Gravity, said before the flight. "If we do more than one, fantastic."
Urged on by Hawking's smiles after the first parabola, they did seven more, Diamandis said afterward.
"He was doing gold-medalist gymnastics in zero G," Diamandis said.
Hawking has an ulterior motive for going on the flight other than the personal thrill of weightlessness -- he believes in the importance of private space ventures and the need to reduce the cost of space tourism so that it is accessible to more people.
"Many people have asked me why I am taking this flight. I am doing it for many reasons," he said before the flight. "First of all, I believe that life on Earth is at an ever increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space. I therefore want to encourage public interest in space."
Diamandis put it more poetically afterward:
"Professor Hawking reached for the sky and touched the heavens today."
Labels: Stephen Hawking Biography
