Zero Gravity !!!!

I will be sharing more about this shortly, but Saturday I attended a workshop at the Stephen Hawking Microgravity Education and Research Center at the Kennedy Space Center Education Center where I worked on lessons to be conducted in ZERO GRAVITY !!!
That's right, on December 8th I will be joining a group of educators from around the state and flying on G-Force One, a specially created Boeing 727-200 cargo aircraft. We will take off from the Kennedy Space Center and reach an altitude of of 24,000 feet, begin a 50 degree ascent peaking at 32,000 feet and turn the nose down in a 45 degree descent. This "roller coaster" inertial effect results in a 30 second weightless flight (also known as parabolic flight).

Joining me on this flight are Florida's Presidential Award finalists for Mathematics and Science, the new president of the Florida Association of Science Teachers, a team of research students from the University of Central Florida, media representatives, and a select group of educators from Florida, including my wife, Susan Ellenburg. Susan and I will be the first husband and wife educator team to fly the same Zero-G flight in the state of Florida! More details will follow soon, but for now check my link or go to www.HawkingCenter.org to learn more about this great flight.

I must take a moment to think a few people. First a huge thank you to Dave Sadlowski and the wonderful people at Space Florida for underwriting this flight. Space Florida is a group dedicated to promoting space industry in Florida and creating opportunities for Florida to become the center of research and educational opportunities related to space. Go to www.spaceflorida.gov for more information. Secondly I would like to thank Gwendolyn Annello, Vice President Education and Research and Michelle Peters, Director Education Programs of ZERO-G Corporation for giving us this once in a lifetime experience. Go to www.gozerog.org for more information. And personally I want to thank Vie Vie Baird from the Math and Science Department of the Florida Department of Education for making this happen for me. Vie Vie has flown on G-Force One and is a wonderful friend to teachers in Florida. She knows what this flight means to me.

For a guy growing up in the backyard of our nation's space program this is a dream come true! I grew up idolizing the Mercury Seven, I have watched launches for almost my entire life. The space program fueled my passion for model rocketry, which I share with my students, made me especially proud to be a Floridian and I am particularly honored to be the Christa McAuliffe Ambassador for Florida. I never expected in this life to share any of an astronaut's feelings, but thanks to all of these people I will experience weightlessness for a total of 7.5 minutes as we complete 15 parabolic cycles. In the first manned flight Alan Shepard experienced weightlessness for 15 minutes. I look forward to sharing more of this adventure with everyone as it unfolds.