Physicist Hawking to take zero-G flight

Physicist Stephen Hawking is going to experience weightlessness on a space tourism flight taking off from Kennedy Space Center.

Hawking, a best-selling author, professor and expert on gravity, is signed up for a weightless flight from the Shuttle Landing Facility on April 26, according to Zero Gravity Corp.

The company, which is providing parabolic simulated zero-gravity flights to tourists, announced the flight Thursday.

In the company’s written release, Hawking is quoted as saying, “As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience first hand weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment.”

The experience will culminate in a 90-minute excursion over the Atlantic Ocean aboard G-Force One. The modified Boeing 727 jet flies a series of parabolic maneuvers, and the sharp ascent and descent of the airplane provides brief periods of weightlessness for passengers. NASA and the Russians have long used the same process to train astronauts for space flights.