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NASA and ZERO-G test space shuttle runway program NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: October 10, 2005 NASA and Zero Gravity Corporation, known as ZERO-G, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have announced the firm's participation in a pilot program. It will demonstrate expanded access to and use of the space shuttle's runway and landing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for non-NASA activities. ZERO-G will conduct weightless flights from the facility using its Boeing 727-200 aircraft, called G-Force One, the weekend of Nov. 5-6. The passengers, called "Flyers," will predominantly be teachers who will perform simple microgravity experiments they can share with their students back in the classroom. The provider of weightless flights will be the first in a series of demonstration projects invited to use the landing facility to help NASA develop policy, management and operational approaches to opening the 15,000-foot runway to non-NASA use. The pathfinder project was proposed by ZERO-G in response to NASA's recent solicitation of interest in non-NASA uses for the facility. "We're excited to have ZERO-G come to the Shuttle Landing Facility as the first demonstration project in this effort to broaden the facility's use," said Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy. "Their activities to help share the experience of spaceflight with the general public, especially those educators who are developing our next generation of explorers, offer a strong synergy with NASA's own outreach and educational activities," he said. In addition to giving passengers a brief exposure to the zero gravity experience astronauts have while orbiting earth, the parabolic flights also offer a simulation of the gravity a person would feel on the moon and on Mars, providing a glimpse of what future NASA crews will encounter. Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of ZERO-G explained, "Our flyers train just like astronauts and live their dream of being weightless. More than 1,250 customers in the last year have been able to fly with ZERO-G and company officials are excited to be part of the effort to expand use of the historic Shuttle Landing Facility." ZERO-G and NASA also are discussing future potential flight activity that will support scientists and their experiments, using Kennedy Space Center experiment-processing capabilities, as well as the availability of nearby airspace. Other potential projects proposed to NASA in response to the Request for Information are in the discussion stage with their respective organizations and are expected to be announced jointly in the near future. The pilot program is being sponsored by the Kennedy Space Center, Center Operations Directorate, and is supported by NASA's Office of Space Operations for the purpose of helping NASA implement U.S. Space Transportation Policy and the President's Management Agenda. |
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The International Space Station's outgoing Expedition 11 crew and the new Expedition 12 crew gather inside the Destiny laboratory module for a change of a command ceremony, complete with ringing of the outpost's bell, as the human presence in space continues.
The Expedition 11 mission of commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips aboard the International Space Station is winding down, and this narrated retrospective looks back at the key events of the half-year voyage in orbit.
The Pluto New Horizons spacecraft, destined to become the first robotic probe to visit Pluto and its moon Charon, arrives at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in advance of its January blastoff.
NASA astronauts Bill McArthur and John Phillips chat with Associated Press space reporter Marcia Dunn about life aboard the International Space Station in this live space-to-Earth interview from the Destiny laboratory module on October 5.
In preparation for the West Coast launch of Boeing's next-generation Delta 4 rocket, the two-stage vehicle is rolled out of its horizontal hangar and driven to the Space Launch Complex-6 pad for erection. The nose cone for the NRO payload is then brought to the pad.
Boeing's Delta 4 rocket pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base was renovated in recent years, transforming Space Launch Complex-6 from the West Coast space shuttle launch site into a facility for the next-generation unmanned booster. This collection of footage shows the 1985 launch pad test using NASA's orbiter Enterprise.