Posted on Jun 09, 2009 11:31:24 PM | Heather Smith | 4 Comments   

Now I understand exactly what people mean when they struggle to find the words to describe microgravity. Words like “cool,” “amazing” and “awesome” come to mind, but even those are not good enough. On the very first parabola I was just amazed at how quickly I could feel the change and how uncontrollable my movements were. I floated straight up to the ceiling and could not find anything to hold on to. I was just moving all around, any which way, without the ability to stop myself. It took about three to four parabolas to figure what to do to help regain control when that happened.   On the fourth parabola I started taking pictures, which was no easy feat since I was floating around all crazy myself. One of the engineers in the back of the plane with us had to keep reeling me in to the side and off of the ceiling. In order to stay still and take pictures, I needed to use a footstrap and also try to hold on to either a rope that ran down the side of the plane or one of the straps being used to hold down the experiments. In one view, using the straps to stay down kind of defeated the purpose of feeling weightless. But, using them also helped me enjoy it more because I could focus less on controlling my body and focus more on observing what was going on around me. We flew out, performed 15 parabolas, turned around and did another 15. About half-way through the first set I started getting the hang of it. Just as we started to go into a weightlessness moment I would reach my hand up above my head so that as I floated upward I would be able to quickly grab the side rope and not end up on the ceiling. Then I’d get to work taking pictures and recording video. During some parabolas I just relaxed and looked around at what everyone else was doing and made note of how cool this was. Even though the plane was loud and there were a lot of people and a lot of commotion, seeing everyone floating there was quite serene. There were several people on our flight who got sick, but I’m proud to say I was not of them! We all took a motion sickness medicine about an hour before flight, so I’m sure that helped. I also tried to follow the advice they had given us about keeping your head and body facing the same way and not making sudden head movements. The flight opened my eyes to several things. One is an appreciation for the photographers and videographers who take pictures and videos during these flights -- and I don’t just mean the ones of people floating, also the images of experiments in action. It can be quite tough to get the right angles and composition while people are floating uncontrollably all around you. Second, I remember thinking, during those serene moments where I was just looking around, that this must be what it’s like on the International Space Station, with a lot less people floating, of course, but with people moving around by “flying” through the air. It’s quite awesome to experience even just a fraction of what astronauts in space feel. My time at Ellington Field is about to wrap-up, but the team will stay on for one more flight tomorrow. Today’s flying team was Kristian, Karina, Ashley (the mentor) and me. Tomorrow, it will be Chris, Steven and Swarandeep’s turn. Kristian, Karina and I gave tomorrow’s crew all sorts of advice and descriptions that may help them on tomorrow’s flight!

Tags : Weightless Wonder, microgravity