 "Defying gravity")
Going on an African Safari, an Australian cultural jaunt or a European tour is passe. Make the summer of 2014 a truly memorable one by embarking on a zero gravity flight into space. "It feels like flying in a dream," says US-based Noah Fulmor who made headlines in 2009 when he tied the knot with Erin Finnegan in a zero gravity wedding. The couple grew up as huge fans of science fiction and had aspirations of becoming astronauts as children. However, they didn't pursue the goal as it was a long and unrealistic. "But we never stopped being jealous of the lucky few who got to experience outer space," says 35-year-old Fulmor. After getting engaged, they decided against the formulaic cookie-cutter wedding packages popular in the US. They wanted a ceremony that captured the essence of their personalities and they wanted to make the wedding expenses count.
So they approached ZERO-G Corporation, the first commercial company to gain permission from the Kennedy Space Center to use the shuttle runway and landing facilities to operate its weightlessness flights. On June 20, the couple and a handful of guests stepped in the Boeing 727 to be part of a truly unique ceremony. With space-themed music, space food sticks on the menu and a custom-made zero gravity wedding gown, the wedding ceremony took place during 15 parabolic arcs, or roller coaster-like dives made by the plane. "Since each weightless parabola lasted only 30 seconds, we split the ceremony into segments of what we could accomplish during that time - the vows were one segment, the ring exchange another and the kiss was the other segment," smiles Fulmor, "We even saved a few parabolas for retakes." Moving around was difficult as every motion was amplified. "Not to mention that everything floats! We were so afraid of losing the rings that we tied them to a little string around our wrists," he says.
Twenty-year-old Sachin Kukke too had his first space experience in 2012 when, as the Asia Pacific winner of the YouTube Space Lab initiative, he embarked on a zero gravity flight in the US. "Since the competition was about space science, the organisers decided to give us a taste of what it feels like to be in space," says this third-year student of mechanical engineering at Bangalore's BMS College of Engineering. Just like Fulmor's, this flight too was organised by Space Adventures' ZERO-G Corporation. "When we reached 35,000 feet, the engines were shut and the plane fell back in the parabolic art. We started levitating because of zero gravity," says Kukke, "The pilot kept varying the angle of descent thus leading to changes in the level of gravity." For instance, the first parabola was Martian which meant that there was one-third the gravity on earth. "Jumping up took time. Second level was lunar, which meant one-sixth the earth's gravity and finally there was the zero-gravity environment. The total duration of the flight was four hours but the actual zero gravity weightlessness lasted six to seven minutes," he says.
The ascent into space is not like your average flight, with passengers losing their sense of equilibrium. "The gravity gets multiplied two-and-a-half times. The body gets pulled down. You can see the skin being pulled down, while internally the same is happening to your blood and fluids, which don't reach the heart properly," says Joshi, "The brain tells the body to produce more fluids, hence you start bloating up." After 20-25 parabolas, Joshi blacked out and the plane had to make an emergency landing. It was only after three hours of motivational words by Koken that Joshi agreed to get back on the flight and went up to 30,000 feet. "It was a beautiful experience. People today know me because of it," says this young owner of a design firm, Artnow Design Dock.
Like Joshi, the average Indian traveller today wants a beyond-average experience. Travel companies like Thomas Cook are receiving queries from Gen Y travellers as well as the business-class globetrotters about such packages. "A unique itinerary involves a holiday in outer space with a month's training that allows the travellers to acclimatise themselves to the atmosphere at 62 miles above the earth's surface," says Shibani Phadkar, senior vice president and head (leisure travel outbound), Thomas Cook (India).
The immense bragging rights of being a space traveller doesn't come cheap. It can cost anything between Rs 22 lakh and 50 lakh, depending on the duration of the flight. "The price of the tickets for 12 people, and ZERO-G Corp said that we would need to buy an entire section of the plane for our wedding, was around $60,000," says Fulmor, "Half of that came from friends and relatives who were as nuts as we were. Most agreed to pay for half of their own ticket because they wanted to experience zero gravity as much as we did." Joshi, on the other hand, single-handedly financed her trip, the cost of which came to Rs 22 lakh. "I didn't want a sponsor as this was a very personal quest," she says.
So would they do this again? "Not really. It was very challenging," says Joshi. But Fulmor has other thoughts. "Hopefully we will be able to go again sometime. Maybe we will be able to spend our 50th wedding anniversary on the moon!" he smiles.
So they approached ZERO-G Corporation, the first commercial company to gain permission from the Kennedy Space Center to use the shuttle runway and landing facilities to operate its weightlessness flights. On June 20, the couple and a handful of guests stepped in the Boeing 727 to be part of a truly unique ceremony. With space-themed music, space food sticks on the menu and a custom-made zero gravity wedding gown, the wedding ceremony took place during 15 parabolic arcs, or roller coaster-like dives made by the plane. "Since each weightless parabola lasted only 30 seconds, we split the ceremony into segments of what we could accomplish during that time - the vows were one segment, the ring exchange another and the kiss was the other segment," smiles Fulmor, "We even saved a few parabolas for retakes." Moving around was difficult as every motion was amplified. "Not to mention that everything floats! We were so afraid of losing the rings that we tied them to a little string around our wrists," he says.
Twenty-year-old Sachin Kukke too had his first space experience in 2012 when, as the Asia Pacific winner of the YouTube Space Lab initiative, he embarked on a zero gravity flight in the US. "Since the competition was about space science, the organisers decided to give us a taste of what it feels like to be in space," says this third-year student of mechanical engineering at Bangalore's BMS College of Engineering. Just like Fulmor's, this flight too was organised by Space Adventures' ZERO-G Corporation. "When we reached 35,000 feet, the engines were shut and the plane fell back in the parabolic art. We started levitating because of zero gravity," says Kukke, "The pilot kept varying the angle of descent thus leading to changes in the level of gravity." For instance, the first parabola was Martian which meant that there was one-third the gravity on earth. "Jumping up took time. Second level was lunar, which meant one-sixth the earth's gravity and finally there was the zero-gravity environment. The total duration of the flight was four hours but the actual zero gravity weightlessness lasted six to seven minutes," he says.
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Commercial spaceflight companies allow untrained civilians like Fulmor and Kukke to go only on 10-15 parabolas. The flight is preceded by an orientation session and a health check-up for abnormalities. But 30-year-old Ankita Joshi's experience couldn't have been more different. This Mumbai-based artist not only created a record for being the first woman in the world to paint in a zero gravity environment, but she managed to complete 63 parabolic arcs - a feat that not many civilians can boast about. A major in physics, she diligently researched the concept of 'nullism' through her college days and afterwards. The idea of painting in zero gravity came to her mind and she approached NASA. After being denied permission for several years, officials at NASA finally relented and put her in touch with Veronique Balsa Koken, an ex-NASA air educator who conducted commercial spaceflights. "We compressed oil paint to create a stick that would spread as soon it touched paper," says Joshi. She underwent eight days of training which involved pressure exercises under water and solving sums for straight eight hours nonstop. "The first two hours you are fine but after that you start getting irritated. That's what the trainers want to see - your threshold for patience," she says.
The ascent into space is not like your average flight, with passengers losing their sense of equilibrium. "The gravity gets multiplied two-and-a-half times. The body gets pulled down. You can see the skin being pulled down, while internally the same is happening to your blood and fluids, which don't reach the heart properly," says Joshi, "The brain tells the body to produce more fluids, hence you start bloating up." After 20-25 parabolas, Joshi blacked out and the plane had to make an emergency landing. It was only after three hours of motivational words by Koken that Joshi agreed to get back on the flight and went up to 30,000 feet. "It was a beautiful experience. People today know me because of it," says this young owner of a design firm, Artnow Design Dock.
Like Joshi, the average Indian traveller today wants a beyond-average experience. Travel companies like Thomas Cook are receiving queries from Gen Y travellers as well as the business-class globetrotters about such packages. "A unique itinerary involves a holiday in outer space with a month's training that allows the travellers to acclimatise themselves to the atmosphere at 62 miles above the earth's surface," says Shibani Phadkar, senior vice president and head (leisure travel outbound), Thomas Cook (India).
The immense bragging rights of being a space traveller doesn't come cheap. It can cost anything between Rs 22 lakh and 50 lakh, depending on the duration of the flight. "The price of the tickets for 12 people, and ZERO-G Corp said that we would need to buy an entire section of the plane for our wedding, was around $60,000," says Fulmor, "Half of that came from friends and relatives who were as nuts as we were. Most agreed to pay for half of their own ticket because they wanted to experience zero gravity as much as we did." Joshi, on the other hand, single-handedly financed her trip, the cost of which came to Rs 22 lakh. "I didn't want a sponsor as this was a very personal quest," she says.
So would they do this again? "Not really. It was very challenging," says Joshi. But Fulmor has other thoughts. "Hopefully we will be able to go again sometime. Maybe we will be able to spend our 50th wedding anniversary on the moon!" he smiles.