A reduced gravity aircraft is a type of fixed-wing aircraft that provides brief near-weightless environments in which to train astronauts, conduct research and film motion pictures.
Versions of such airplanes, officially nicknamed Weightless Wonders, have been operated by the NASA Reduced Gravity Research Program. The unofficial nickname "Vomit Comet" became popular among those who experienced their operation.
Read more about Reduced Gravity Aircraft: Operating Principles, Usage By NASA, Airsickness, Inventors
Famous quotes containing the words reduced and/or gravity:
“There surely is a being who presides over the universe; and who, with infinite wisdom and power, has reduced the jarring elements into just order and proportion. Let speculative reasoners dispute, how far this beneficent being extends his care, and whether he prolongs our existence beyond the grave, in order to bestow on virtue its just reward, and render it fully triumphant.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“Grown beyond nature now, soft food for worms,
They lift frail heads in gravity and good faith.”
—Derek Mahon (b. 1941)