Spaceport Sweden offers weightless flights
Have you ever dreamt of flying, defying the laws of gravity and float free in the air like an astronaut? Since space exploration began, only a few hundred have had the privilege to experience the ultimate space experience and the magical feeling to float in total weightlessness.
That is about to change. Yesterday a historic announcement was made and for the fist time ever, weightless flights will be offered to the general public in Europe. Spaceport Sweden has been selected as a key partner and reseller for the air Zero G flights in the Netherlands and Nordic countries (excluding Iceland).
“Spaceport Sweden is developing Europe’s gateway to space and offers learning space adventures also on the ground and in the air. Providing weightless flights to the public has since long been one our objectives and we are thrilled to now be able offer this together with our European partners and strive to one day also make these flights available in Sweden, says Karin Nilsdotter, CEO of Spaceport Sweden.
Yesterday Yannick d’Escatha, President of CNES (French Space Agency), Jean-Francois Clervoy, chairman of Nove Space (subsidiary of CNES) and also ESA astronaut and Mr Gompertz, CEO of Avico announced the opening of weightless flights for the general public on board the Airbus A300 ZERO-G, which is normally used by space agencies for research purposes.
Starting in the first quarter of 2013, special parabolic flights will be arranged from the facilities of Novespace, a subsidiary of CNES and owner of the A300 ZERO-G, at Bordeaux-Merignac airport.
This one-day discovery of weightlessness will include flights of about two and a half hours, comprising 15 parabolic arcs, or a total cumulative time of 5 minutes in weightlessness. They will accommodate 40 passengers divided into four groups in the free-floating zone, each of which can take ten passengers, a PNS (safety crew) and an instructor. All the air Zero G flights will take place in the presence of Jean-Francois Clervoy who will share his experience as an astronaut with the passengers throughout the course of the day and will participate with each group in turn during the flight. Read more about air Zero G on: http://www.airzerog.com
The first flight will take place on March 15th 2013 and prices start from 5980 euro incl VAT. For more information and booking contact Spaceport Sweden on; Tel: +46 (0) 980 80 880, Email: booking@spaceportsweden.com
Spaceport Sweden is a pioneering initiative to establish commercial human spaceflight for tourism and research in Sweden and become Europe’s gateway to space and a hub for cross-industry innovation. Located in Kiruna, Swedish Lapland, Europe’s premier space city since 1957, Spaceport Sweden offers unique world class space experiences through the northern lights and under the midnight sun further supplying launch infrastructure, R&D facilities and high-tech expertise to commercial space operators.
