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Hawking handles zero G-whiz

The paralyzed physicist, 65, says his experience on a zero-gravity flight "could have gone on and on."

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 27, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL - Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking savored weightlessness Thursday, flipping in the air after years of being able to make only tiny facial movements. But he hopes it's only the appetizer.

"Space, here I come," Hawking said after a two-hour flight on a jet that creates 25-second bursts of weightlessness for its passengers by making parabolic plunges.

The jet made eight dives for Hawking, his physicians and nurses and two dozen others. During two of the plunges he made two flips like "a gold medal gymnast," said Peter Diamandis, chairman of Zero Gravity Corp.

"It was amazing," Hawking said. "I could have gone on and on."

Hawking, 65, a mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge who has done groundbreaking work on black holes and the origins of the universe, has the paralyzing disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

He was the first person with a disability to experience the flight by Zero Gravity, which has flown about 2,700 people out of Florida since late 2004 and began offering the flights in Las Vegas this week.

Hawking hopes the zero gravity flight is a step toward going on a suborbital flight, which may be offered by private space companies by the end of the decade.

"It's a test to see how well he can handle the g-forces that would be necessary in order to leave the atmosphere," said Sam Blackburn, Hawking's assistant.

Hawking's medical staff was on hand to make sure nothing went wrong. "I think my physiological parameters were in worse shape than Stephen's," said Dr. Edwin Chilvers, his personal physician.

The jet's interior is padded to protect the weightless fliers. As a further precaution, Zero Gravity founders Diamandis and Byron Lichtenberg, who has flown on the space shuttle, were on either side of Hawking so they could lower him to the ground gently at the end of the parabola.

[Last modified April 27, 2007, 01:38:59]