Hawking to Take Zero Gravity Ride 127
An anonymous reader writes "Well-known cosmologist Stephen Hawking is preparing for a once-in a lifetime trip. His goals are for even higher ground, but right now he's readying for an April zero gravity ride aboard NASA's 'vomit comet'. His ultimate goal is to take a ride on one of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic flights, and this is a 'test run' for that more rigorous experience. Though complex math ain't no thing for Dr. Hawking, his interests here are purely inspirational. 'Hawking says he wants to encourage public interest in spaceflight, which he believes is critical to the future of humanity. "I also want to show," he said in an e-mail interview, "that people need not be limited by physical handicaps as long as they are not disabled in spirit."'"
Re: (Score:2)
At first it was kind of silly, but now that I'm thinking about it it pretty deep...
Re: (Score:1)
That doesn't matter... (Score:2)
I'm sure NASA will issue him an adequate supply of their now-famous adult diapers.
Re: (Score:1)
Does this mean its open to everyone? (Score:5, Funny)
I was under the impression you had to have a certain level of fitness and stamina.
I also cannot get the thought of the south park kid shouting "Timmmeh!" whilst riding the shuttle.
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
The story goes that Hawking met the pope and was asked if there was any specific request he might have of the vaticans resources (or something on those lines, I am too lazy to google or wikipedia for the details), and he asked to see the interrogation documents of Galileo Galilei. Apparently as the interrogation was translated to him, Hawking made several sarcastic comments. Not necessarily totally unrelated to this encou
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Hawking: zzzzzzzzzzgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh Y....E....S
Security Guard: You're absolutely positive here?
Hawking: zzzzzzzzzzgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh Y....E....S
Security Guard: Say's here Ronald P. Heatherstone is a top rated fighter pilot, stands 6 ft 3, weights 220 pounds and can bench press a Toyota. You're absolute sure this is you?
Hawking: zzzzzzzzzzgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh Y....E....S
Security: Right then, off with you.
Hawking: zzzzzzzzzzgggggggggggggg
Re:Does this mean its open to everyone? (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe they figure he has nothing to lose. As long as his head is protected, so what if he breaks his spine or loses a limb: he can't use them anyhow.
Re: (Score:1)
Goriest thing I've heard this week.
+1 Interesting, +1 Funny
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
The posting is incorrect, but the article is correct. It's not NASA's Vomit Comet (KC-135), but the Zero Gravity Corporation's G-Force One.
And yes, it's open to everyone who mets their basic health requirements and is at least 15 years old. Whether Hawking meets the requirements I'd like to know (ie. are they making an exception?)
Re: (Score:1)
Up there, we are essentially equal.
Its just the travelling which would be a problem.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Rumor is.... (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.mchawking.com/ [mchawking.com]
Re: (Score:1)
OMG its not even april yet
Re: (Score:2)
is Hawking a real physicist? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I would guess he is using the term "zero gee" so those who are not aware of his status as a physicist, or physics in general get the basic meaning. Not to say that you don't know that is is a real physicist or anything. I mean, holding the same office as that Newton guy probably does not mean much.
Re: (Score:2)
Some people think he's not that great as can be seen in the video The Hawking Paradox [google.ca].
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Not much doubt that he's deserving of his status, celebrity or otherwise. He earned it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Some people think he's not that great as can be seen in the video The Hawking Paradox [google.ca].
For a scientist, being proven wrong is no big deal and often just as important as being right. It's just another factor in his/ her continuing work. Being wrong does not make you a bad scientist. Einstein's 'Cosmological Constant' anyone?
Hawking has been wrong numerous times (it usually costs him a case of wine). Quite often he actually prove *himself* wrong.
No difference (Score:1)
There is no difference between zero gravity and free fall in a gravitational field. None whatsoever. That is, there is no experiment which will be able to distinguish between these to different cases. So, yes, the term "zero g" is perfectly valid.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm no physics expert, but won't there always be tidal forces that you could use to differentiate those cases - even ignoring the various observations you could make to see acceleration due to gravity?
Einstein's Equivalence Principle (Score:2, Informative)
No. There is absolutely no difference between free fall in a gravitational field and absence of a gravitational field. This is the famous Equivalence Principle of General Relativitiy. This link gives more detail: http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/gener al_relativity.html [virginia.edu]
So there exists no difference at all between free fall and zero gravity. As for your second point, no experiment can distinguish between the two cases. So no observation can differentiate between the two.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
So there exists no difference at all between free fall and zero gravity. As for your second point, no experiment can distinguish between the two cases. So no observation can differentiate between the two.
This is in
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Good point.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, The rushing wind is a dead give-away too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Stephen Hawking, using 1337speak.
Re: (Score:2)
Give me a break, everyone judges a persons worth based on the spelling of their words? As if people should be expected to fit some perfect ideal. I know plenty of smart degreed people, who couldn't spell to save their life.
Re: (Score:1)
and you are?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:is Hawking a real physicist? (Score:5, Funny)
Either that, or his voicebox computer is the first instance of AI.
Re: (Score:2)
And what a brilliant AI it is, solving complex physics problems for us! As a fun thought experiment, can you imagine Hawking's frustration if, inside his head, he actually lost his passion for doing physics soon after being incapacitated by ALS, but that his sentient computer is just parading him in conferences as a puppet for the street cred, just waiting for the right time to come out in the open about its true capabilities, when mankind is ready for it? Hawking knows full well what is going on, but as al
Well... (Score:2)
Yes, we're supposed to pay taxes on things won in a give away, but the dude refusing a trip due to 25K$ is just sad.
Who else, in the mass of average Joes can even afford to contemplate a space trip?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I DONT have the money, and even a software engineer COULDNT AFFORD IT.
What makes you think I can, or let alone pay 25K to fly for 1 day? Sorry, I have better things I could do with that money... Like a second degree or pay off my loans.
Queue the... (Score:3, Funny)
4...
3...
2...
1...
IGNITION!
-1, Flamebait? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/157656 [newgrounds.com]
"I never wanted to be a cosmology professor.
I always wanted to be a ROCKET MAN!"
Re: (Score:2)
As a person with a progressive disability... (Score:4, Insightful)
Err Hmm (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyhow, I didn't mean to be downe
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Stephen Hawking was exceptionally lucky that his disability proved to be manageable, at least professionally. Others may be able to use this as inspiration to change to better-suited careers. One thing that absolutely cannot be disputed is his ability to roll with the punches, and fire back with a few of his own. Live life aggressively. If your only career path is to be a theoretical phy
Re: (Score:1)
what a... (Score:2, Interesting)
Says it all really.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Spirit. (Score:2)
I bet the jerk Hawking hates crackpots and anthropocidal maniacs too.
I'm sure he'll enjoy it, too... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Unfortunately, it seems most people are disabled in spirit. I blame TV.
If he was a Californian, he... (Score:1)
Obligatory Futurama (Score:5, Funny)
Hawking: Sure, why not.
Re: (Score:2)
If he waits a bit longer ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Future != now (Score:4, Interesting)
The "future" covers a huge amount of time, so I'm not sure we need to take interest in space exploration *now*. If I was the one spending money, I'll put most of the credit into Drexler's style nanotechnology research, once we 'master' nanotechnology, then tackling space exploration makes sense as either:
- at best a space elevator becomes possible and space access cost are reduced a lot,
- at worst a space elevator is impossible, but the improved materials should still reduce the cost of space access a lot and the payload themselves would be lighter.
Re:Future != now (Score:5, Insightful)
The point is, we can work on all of these things. Provided that humans still exist 500 years from now, there will still be poor illiterate people, regardless of what planet or plane of existence we live in then.
Let's set our sights on the stars. Maybe at least we'll hit Mars.
Re: (Score:1)
Except that in 2507 "illiterate" will be defined as a person who does not have a biochip brain implant to give them access to the Matrix. Or a person who has the implant but changed their mind so many times that Windows Genuine Advantage detected a crossed threshold, yanked their licence, and dumped them off the net until they call Redmond over
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
There's enough room in the world for both astrophysicists and materials technologists.
Encouraging interest in spaceflight (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Smacked into the floor hard (Score:2)
I am sure Hawkins will handle 0g, but I wonder how he will feel during the 25 seconds of 2g. That is stressful even for a healthy person.
Slamming on the brakes in a Porsche on a good track going from 250km/h down to 0 is a change from 1g to 1.28g (sqrt(1^2+0.8^2), so the vomit comet is 7 times that! You are certainly smacked into the floor hard, even with assistants.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
It's a fun ride (Score:5, Informative)
Anyone who wants to can go on Zero G's flights, as long as they don't have a medical problem that gets in the way - and they have a doctor on staff who goes over your medical history before you go. All it takes is $3750.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Because of ALS he has the ultimate sedentary lifestyle. If we were talking about somebody else who had not moved at all in decades (for whatever reason) I would be suggesting that they not go out and do aerobatics in an aircraft.
Re: (Score:2)
If he doesn't enjoy the ride... (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
The article is about Steve Hawking, not Steve Ballmer.
April Zero (Score:1)
Article is grossly inaccurate (Score:5, Informative)
"On April 26, Hawking, surrounded by a medical entourage, is to take a zero-gravity ride out of Cape Canaveral on a so-called vomit comet, a padded aircraft that flies a roller-coaster trajectory to produce periods of weightlessness. He is getting his lift gratis, from Zero Gravity, a company that has been flying thrill seekers on a special Boeing 727-200 since 2004 at $3,500 a trip."
Zero Gravity is taking him up... NOT NASA. It's NOT the Vomit Comet (NASA's plane).
From a better article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17156385/page/2/ [msn.com]
"Parabolic flights can pose a risk of motion sickness or more serious health effects, but Zero Gravity's flights have been structured to minimize the risk. During a typical flight, Zero Gravity's "G-Force One" jet makes a gradual transition to weightless parabolas, and provides significantly fewer bouts of weightlessness than NASA's "Vomit Comet" jet. "
Not the Vomit Comet (Score:1)
Hawking is the science messiah. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
What ridiculous hyperbole. The man is inspirational, sure, and clever. He is good at the field of physics in which he works. But to paint him as some sort of scientific messiah is just silly.
hawking's ride (Score:1)
Prof. Hawkings (Score:1)