CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A jet carrying astrophysicist Stephen Hawking took off Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center on a flight to simulate zero gravity and make Hawking the first disabled person to experience weightlessness.
A nurse lifted Hawking's paralyzed arm so he could wave to news cameras before he boarded the jet. A lift carried his wheelchair aboard the plane, and then the wheelchair was returned to the ground.
"As you can imagine I'm very excited," Hawking told reporters before the flight. "I have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades. The chance to float free in zero-g will be wonderful."
Hawking, a 65-year-old mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge who has done groundbreaking work on black holes and the origins of the universe, suffers from the paralyzing disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Unable to talk or move his hands and legs, Hawking can only make tiny facial expressions using the muscles around his eyes, eyebrows, cheek and mouth. He uses a computer to talk for him in a synthesized voice by choosing words on a computer screen through an infrared sensor on a headpiece that detects motion in his cheek.
He raises an eyebrow to signal "yes," and tenses his mouth to the side to indicate "no."
"I want to demonstrate to the public that anybody can participate in this type of weightless experience," Hawking said Thursday.
The zero gravity flight in a modified jet creates the experience of microgravity during 25-second plunges over the Atlantic Ocean.
The jet's interior is padded to protect the weightless fliers and 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 has been waived for Hawking.
After the jet has reached its proper altitude, Hawking's assistants will lift him out of his seat and lay him on his back in the front of the cabin on a special foam pillow for the first plunge.
Other plunges will be made only after doctors and nurses accompanying ensure he is enjoying it. He will be hooked up to monitors measuring his blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels during the flight — including while he is weightless. Medical equipment sufficient for a mini-intensive care unit will be on board, said Dr. Edwin Chilvers, Hawking's personal physician.
Hawking won't have his wheelchair and talking computer on the jet with him, although his assistant will bring a laptop and a card with the letters of the alphabet in case Hawking wants to communicate beyond facial expressions.
"We consider ... having him weightless for 25 seconds is a successful mission," said Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of Zero Gravity Corp. "If we do more than one, fantastic."
The space tourism company has flown about 2,700 people on the Florida-based flights since late 2004 and began offering them in Las Vegas this week.
Gary A. Leo, president and CEO of the ALS Association, said there should be no medical concerns with someone who has the condition going on a zero-gravity flight, although any person who does should consult a physician.
Hawking is one of the best-known theoretical physicists of his generation and also wrote the book "A Brief History of Time."
He has an ulterior motive for going on the flight other than the personal thrill of weightlessness — Hawking believes in the importance of private space ventures and the need to reduce the cost of space tourism so that it's accessible to more people.
"I am hopeful that if we can engage this mass market, the cost of space flight will drop and we will be able to gain access to the resources of space and also spread humanity beyond just Earth," he said. "Sooner or later, some disaster may wipe out life on Earth. The long-term survival of the human race requires that we spread into space."
On the Net: Stephen Hawking: www.hawking.org.uk/
Zero Gravity Corp.: www.gozerog.com
ALS Association: www.alsa.org/