Zero-gravity flight experience brings space travel to NYC
For space travel hopefuls in NYC, the weight is over.
Zero Gravity Corp., or Zero-G, is giving New Yorkers an otherworldly opportunity to experience weightlessness like an astronaut — or like billionaires Richard Branson, 71, and Jeff Bezos, 57.
“We’re giving you the same incomparable feeling that Bezos and Branson just felt during their recent flights,” Zero-G CEO Matt Gohd, 65, told The Post.
For $7,500 a person, the space entertainment and tourism company will take passengers on a 90-minute flight in a specially modified Boeing 727 aircraft, dubbed G-Force One, later this summer.
The plane, devoid of seats or furniture, flies in 15 parabolic arcs — aerobatic maneuvers similar to roller coaster arches — between 24,000- and 32,000-foot altitudes. The parabolas create a weightless environment for flyers inside the aircraft’s padded 30-foot cabin. Highly trained flight coaches will be aboard to supervise.
“Overall, passengers will experience about eight minutes of weightlessness,” Gohd said, adding, “That’s twice the amount of time Branson and Bezos experienced it for a fraction of the cost.”
Both tycoons spent millions on their respective extraterrestrial joyrides. But Branson, who took flight on July 11, enjoyed five minutes of weightlessness. And Bezos’s July 20 trip afforded him only four minutes of complete freedom from gravity.
“There’s literally nothing in this world like the feeling of being in no gravity,” said Gohd, an Oakland, Calif., native who left his job as a Wall Street investment adviser to run Zero-G two years ago.
The company has been conducting FAA-approved, commercial zero-gravity flights since 2004. Stephen Hawking, Martha Stewart and Kate Upton — who did a sexy Sports Illustrated Swimsuit photo shoot in a Zero-G chamber — are among the famous faces who have gone on weightless expeditions.
“You’re flying, floating, doing somersaults and back flips in midair with minimal effort,” Gohd added. “It’s like magic.”
G-Force One is set to take off in Westhampton Aug. 21. And city dwellers can get their taste of outer space from Sept. 12-18. The experience will also be available to escape-to-space enthusiasts in Rochester on Sept. 19.
Each Zero-G flight accommodates up to 28 passengers, and folks ranging from ages 8 to 98 are welcome. Flyers with special needs and severe medical conditions are also free to join in on the floating fun, but they should consult a health care professional for permission before boarding.
Big Apple adventurers will be transported by Blade helicopter from Manhattan to Newark Airport, where their anti-gravity excursion will begin.
“Before the weightless experience even gets started, passengers will get a helicopter ride out of Midtown to the Statue of Liberty for some aerial sightseeing, then to Newark Airport,” Gohd said.
After taking a rapid COVID-19 test and going through a TSA security screening, passengers will receive their FAA-approved flight suits, to be worn atop their regular clothes during the astronaut-like mission.
Guests will also be fed a breakfast of bagels and other light fare, because it’s “important to have something neutral on your stomach before experiencing zero gravity,” Gohd noted, adding that flyers typically don’t get nauseous during the flight.
Then, just before liftoff, travelers will sit through a safety orientation, during which the Zero-G team will explain the do’s and don’ts of going weightless.
“People get very excited about being unrestrained by gravity. And we love that,” Gohd said. “But it’s important not to jump or make major movements during the flight, because it takes very little effort to move around the cabin.”
He added that people can float from one end of the aircraft to the other by pushing off a wall using only a forefinger.
Readying for takeoff, Newark Airport air traffic control will give the G-Force One pilot coordinates to a secluded 100-mile airspace, where the plane can fly without interrupting any commercial flights.
Once at altitude, guests will experience varying levels of reduced gravity, including the different sensations of weightlessness on Mars, on the moon and in the cosmos.
“When we reach the altitude that mimics the gravity level of Mars, you feel about one-third your bodyweight,” Gohd said. “On the moon, you’ll feel about one-sixth your bodyweight.”
Then you’ll experience total weightlessness.
“Once you’re absolutely untethered by gravity, you can’t tell the difference between the floor and the ceiling. It’s incredible,” Gohd gushed. “You don’t even feel dizzy or lightheaded, because blood isn’t rushing to your head like it would if you were hanging upside down on Earth.”
While levitating in the sky like NASA’s finest, passengers of G-Force One will have the chance to eat Skittles and drink water droplets that are suspended in midair, show off their acrobatic skills by doing floating flips and gain bragging rights that’ll last a lifetime.
Professional pictures and GoPro camera footage of the experience will be available to guests within 72 hours of each flight.
“It’s a bucket list experience that everyone absolutely loves,” Gohd said, adding that Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, 91, has enjoyed Zero-G flights.
“Anybody can do it,” Gohd added. “All you need is the dream of being an astronaut.”
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