Last week Northrop Grumman’s Weightless Flights of Discovery made the Situation Room on CNN. It was a nice piece covering the program and the Washington, DC flight. As you may already know the main goal of the program is to give teachers an experience which will help them inspire their students to pursue STEM careers. You can view the by clicking the image below.
The Weightless Flights of Discovery program is a headline stealer. It gets a lot of news coverage, especially with a major push for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields today. Here is some of the recent print and television coverage of our WFOD.
Teachers Defy Gravity to Gain Students’ Interest
Click here to read the full article.
I just received an email from one of the teachers on my WFOD telling us the video is up! I wish I could embed it directly into this post, but it isn’t allowed. Here are the links to the three videos! I was part of the “gold team,” hence those gold socks! Pop some popcorn and enjoy these shorts (short videos for those who don’t know that term).
Thanks again to Northrop Grumman for making this experience possible. Watching these videos brings back that day and all the great memories!
Many people have asked how it was to experience zero-gravity. They also have asked how I feel now that I am back. To answer that question, check out the following cartoon. Thanks to Laura P. (7th grade) for drawing it!
I wanted to share some of the official photos from the flight with you. These photos capture the experience we all had on the weightless flight. I hope you enjoy them. All photos are copyright of Steve Boxall.
This picture shows the first people to board G-Force One on that lovely day. If you look closely, do you see who is first in line? – That is right! It’s me Mr. B!
After boarding G-Force One, we found our seats and prepared for takeoff. We had to have the standard (with some comical, attention-grabbing acting) safety briefing, as found on any commercial flight. The flight shortly after takeoff was quite rough due to weather, but we managed well enough. Once we reached our cruising altitude, the coaches then began to setup our experiments. They collected all of our shoes first though! Then we were allowed out of our seats and posed for the group picture seen below. This was taken somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.
Next, came the frantic setup of experiments and even some baseline experimentation. My team sets up the mass vs. weight experiment in the photo below. Note: I will describe the experiment in more detail when I post the video of it in action.
Time quickly evaporated and we had to get into position to start the parabolas. The best part is just about to begin. The first set of parabolas (five in total) would be Martian 1, Lunar 1, Lunar 2, Zero 1 and finally Zero 2. That was quite a trip from Mars to the Moon twice and then on into zero-gravity, but it only took approximately 6-7 minutes to perform. G-Force One is fast!
The photo above shows us prepared to experience the 1.8 Gs on the way into the first parabola. We are looking up at the ceiling and focussing on one small point to limit the effects on our bodies. Get ready for Martian 1!
Martian Gravity is fun because you can do some very easy pushups! The gravity on Mars is 1/3 of the Earth’s Gravity. How much would you weigh on Mars?
Today marks the last Northrop Grumman Foundation Weightless Flight of Discovery. It is currently (at the time of the post) taking place over the Atlantic Ocean. The group of teacher participating today are from the Washington, D.C. area. This flight will bring the total number of teachers reached by the program this year to about 120. Countless students will be impacted and hopefully will see the benefits of science, technology, engineering and math in their lives.
Zero-gravity is just amazing! Here is a picture that appeared in the Norwalk News (actually it is the picture used by Northrop Grumman for their official press release!). Follow the link to the story!
Also here is a video from the same news organization. Hang on and enjoy! (Unfortunately I cannot post it directly at the moment so follow the link to story and/or video)
For even more pictures check out the Northrop Grumman Foundation’s Weightless Flight of Discovery Facebook page. There are 145 pictures for your entertainment! I believe there are quite a few good ones of me too!
Wow! I have to take a deep breath as I sit down to write this post! Today’s Weightless Flight of Discovery experience was truly like nothing on Earth! I will have to give a better description of the day later, but here is the short story.
The day started sleep deprived as I had an impossible time trying to sleep. I was just as excited as any kid the night before any big event in life! I had to be up early and on the road to Greenwich where the all the other prospective “Zeronauts” were gathering to prepare experiments, get last minute training and eat the proper foods for breakfast. After some last minute directions and encouragement we made our way out of the hotel to get screened by TSA before boarding our bus to Stewart International Airport. This process was rather quick and then we left on the bus for the hour trek north. Upon arriving at Stewart we proceeded to the air carrier accommodating us and moved out onto the tarmac. We boarded G-FORCE ONE and got set up for the flight. We had a safety briefing once onboard and then the flight began. We took off from Stewart and flew out to the dedicated airspace, which was somewhere over the Atlantic south of Long Island.
Once we arrived in our airspace the fun began. We performed 5 parabolas before the first straight and level (Martian 1, Lunar 1, Lunar 2, Zero 1, Zero 2). What an amazing feeling it was to experience all that and 1.8Gs as well! Then we performed 10 more zero-gravity parabolas. It got better each and every time we got to experience many cool experiments and tricks. Whether trying to devour floating M&M’s out of mid-air with our mouths, trying the same with amazing water globules or the amazing acrobatics that put olympic gymnasts to shame it was truly an experience of a lifetime. Sadly, it was over all too quickly (for me anyhow) and we cleaned up all our experiments and made our way to out seats to return to Stewart. Then on the ground we took some group pics and boarded the bus for our return to Greenwich. After a good meal and nice ceremony we went our separate ways with smiles that could not be wiped off our faces! What a day! I will do my best to recap in much more detail tomorrow.
Thanks Northrop Grumman and Zero-G for a day that I will never forget!!!
I thought you all might like to know who will be floating along with me in zero-g tomorrow. These are the winners of the Race 2 Space trivia quest:
Students: Nick V. (patch designer), Kaitlin N., Kevin S., Ryan G. (first to turn in answers) and Jon S.
Teachers: Miss Helgans, Mrs. Savastano-Davies and Mr. Petrino
Congratulations to you all. Your picture will float in zero-g and each of you will receive your own actual mission patch! I hope to have the footage to share tomorrow or Wednesday.
Update 1: The answers to the Race 2 Space trivia quest are located on the newly pressed page. (See the link above)
Update 2: The flight is almost here and we have had a new location given to us to fly from. Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, NY. In the days ahead, I will give you information on just how you can locate the flight track.
