Zero-G gives rise to a ‘teachable moment’

Fighting the upchuck factor
There's a well-known downside, of course. Zero-G plays tricks with your sense of orientation, particularly during the flip side of the experience, when you feel as much as 1.8 times normal gravity. It's not for nothing that NASA's weightlessness plane has been nicknamed "the Vomit Comet."

To minimize the risk of inducing motion sickness, G-Force One builds up to zero-G gradually, starting out with one round of one-third gravity ("Martian gravity"), then a few rounds of one-sixth gravity ("lunar"), then about 10 rounds of full weightlessness. In contrast, NASA's fliers go through about 40 parabolas. Studies have indicated that the vast majority of fliers can weather 15 parabolas without getting sick.

Noah McMahon, Zero Gravity's chief marketing officer, repeatedly reassured the teachers during a preflight briefing. "It's much more like a yoga class than a roller coaster," he said.

For extra insurance, Zero Gravity recommends taking motion-sickness medication, such as Dramamine or scopolamine. And just in case, Zero Gravity's coaches make sure everyone gets an airsick bag.

I stuck a scopolamine patch behind my ear and the airsick bag in my pocket for Saturday morning's flight. Strangely enough, I felt great during the parabolas — but a little green around the gills afterward, during the level flight back to Cleveland. I didn't have to use the bag myself, although at least one of the teachers aboard used his.

Celebration time
To judge by the whoops and hollers heard during the zero-G parabolas, most of the teachers were tickled by the experience. "It's really fun to actually experience it rather than watch it on TV," Cindy Hasselbring of Milan High School in Michigan said after the last parabola was flown.

Barrington High's Matt Gelon said the experience could yield educational dividends for years to come.

"As a teacher, you’re always looking for hooks — something that will get students really interested in what you’re talking about," he said. "Now I’ve got about 15 video clips and demonstrations that we have demonstrated up in zero-G that, once I put 'em on the screen — I got 'em. I can teach 'em anything I want at that point."

Those are just the sorts of reactions that Northrop Grumman hoped to inspire with the program, said Art Stephenson, the company's vice president of space exploration systems.

"We look forward to bringing a workforce forward that's excited about and wants to work in technical fields — like space," he said. "Space happens to be one that's immediately of interest to young people."

If those 240 teachers can inspire, say, 40 students each in the course of a year, that works out to close to 10,000 students — and even more as the teachers pass on their experience to future classes.

"People ask us, 'Why don't you fly students?'" Stephenson said. "Well, the teachers are the ones who touch the students, and we think that multiplier effect is what it's all about."

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