I flew home Tuesday night after having completed my mission to follow along and document a week in the Reduced Gravity Flight Program. The entire experience -- from interviewing people like Regan Geeseman and Liz Warren, to learning about the University of Colorado’s Wilberforce Pendulum experiment, to the reduced-gravity flight itself -- was surreal. I hope the students who participate in this project truly appreciate what an awesome opportunity they are given to experience such a flight, to conduct research in that environment, and to see inside NASA.

For me, it's changed how I view a few things. For one, I think that any time I see an astronaut floating in space it will take me back to my own moments in weightlessness. After experiencing how difficult it can be to control your body and do simple tasks, I am able to appreciate more fully the superb work astronauts do up there in their unique environment of space.

But aside from my own experience, I love that I was able to share it here on this blog. The positive feedback on this effort was unbelievable! Some of the students who were there with me sent the link to their parents, families and school friends, who then sent the link to their parents, families, and friends, and the word was getting out. Doug Goforth and the staff of the Reduced Gravity Flight Program were excited to have their project featured and granted me access to a behind-the-scenes view of their project so I could tell its story.

And while the week-long experience has ended, the work has just begun on the photo galleries, feature articles and career profiles that will come out of this on NASA's For Students and For Educators Web sites. I hope my blog opens doors to other opportunities to use blogs to interact with and bring real-time information to those interested in NASA.