| Show Experiencing X the e High I Only n NASA Can an Provide e I Scott Gold Los Angeles Times tines ON THE NASA KC Five miles over the Gulf of Mexico a pilot gunned the engines of a turbojet turbojet turbojet turbo turbo- turbo turbo- jet and rocketed up at more than 50 degrees steeper than the face of Mount Everest Anu Bhargava and Michael Scott two recent Purdue University graduates graduates graduates ates had be been n lying on the floor of the fuselage Now they were pinned there mere I was too The force of the climb pooled the blood in our legs pulled our cheeks toward the floor and made us feel as if our stomachs were mashed against our spines We couldn't have been happier I had been summoned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to bid farewell to the KC a jet designed by the Air Force as a refueling tanker but used since 1960 to replicate weightlessness weightless weightless- ness giving astronauts a taste of spaces space's and allowing them to test new technology Twice a year the plane also serves as a unique classroom for college students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents from across the nation who over time have given the plane its known better-known moniker the Vomit Comet This fall the Comet is headed in NASA's vernacular to the boneyard a weedy field where once-cutting- once edge rocket components rest with no greater claim to virility than an old Nova jacked up on cinder blocks It Itis Itis Itis is being replaced by a newer and sleeker DC This would be one of its final voyages As we neared the peak of our climb Scott 23 managed to turn his head enough to catch a glimpse of an electronic display tracking gravity inside the plane The red numbers began to fall One minute a NASA official barked over the din of the engines One minute This is it Scott said a serene smile spreading across his face Get ready On one of the first days of nearly a week of training the sun was still peeking over the horizon as 86 students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents with hair hah askew and sleep wrinkles on their cheeks stumbled into a massive hangar at Ellington Field a small airport south of Houston used largely by the military and by NASA to house the The students were ushered into an looking intimidating-looking chamber whose walls a NASA official official official cial pointed out with customary optimism were covered in flame- flame resistant paint Inside without leaving leaving leaving leav leav- ing the ground our instructors planned to simulate conditions at feet in case the lost air pressure while we were flying Like any good government bureaucracy NASA uses a lot of arcane words and its officials speak in something akin to a clubhouse code They dont don't for instance say here before they start a meeting They say We haVe haute a good manifest But the chamber elicited elicited elicited elicit elicit- ed a bit of NASA idiolect that turned out to be quite vivid useful con con- If we lost pressure while flying the instructors said our oxygen-deprived oxygen brains would give us three to five minutes of useful consciousness time when we would still have our wits about us and could do important things such as latch a seat belt or find an oxygen mask To demonstrate the effects of hypoxia oxygen deprivation NASA officials told everyone to remove their oxygen masks after the rr rr T Js' Js Jrr J fJ r r rs s CJ Z 4 GRAVITY Weightlessness occurs as the KC heads back down The venerable jet will ill be retired this fall simulator reached the equivalent of feet We were then given a quiz I disregarded our instructors' instructors admonitions that this was not a competition competition competition com com- petition and felt certain that my useful useful useful use use- ful consciousness would outlast the others Spelling my last name backward was a breeze as was adding 32 and 14 I appeared to be the only person in the chamber able to list six US U.S. presidents in reverse order It was later pointed out to me that many of today's college students were born during Ronald Reagans Reagan's second term and could not be expected to remember remember remember ber Gerald Ford certainly not with addled brains I ran into trouble when asked to name the eight states that begin with the letter M. M I realized that I was no longer sure that I could name eight states much less eight starting with M. M The last problem featured a drawing of an elephant and this question How many legs does this elephant have Mercifully I was told to put my oxygen mask back on after I answered Six The real elephant in the room however was the prospect of vomit vomit- ing Estimates of what NASA calls the kill rate the percentage of passengers who throw up range from 10 percent to 25 percent Passengers generally get sick in zero gravity when the loss of equilibrium induces nausea four of the 11 students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents on my flight would get sick Weightlessness whether it is felt on NASA's airplane or in orbit is something of a misnomer Technically you weigh the same as you do on the ground but you are in free fall plummeting at the same rate as the machine around you In space this can be achieved by flying around the Earth In the Vomit Comet it is achieved by flying in par parabolas bolas which is a fancy yancy w. w way y of f saying that the plane climbs steeply feet in 20 seconds or orso orso orso so and then dives for 20 seconds over and over again On the way up passengers experience experience experience approximately two Gs twice the force of gravity which pins them to the floor and makes them feel as if their then weight has suddenly suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly doubled The effects of gravity gravity gravity grav grav- ity are eliminated for about 30 seconds seconds seconds sec sec- sec sec- during the U-turn U when NASA's pilots negotiate a controlled controlled controlled con con- trolled We would be given the option of taking doses of Dex an anti- anti nausea medication The pills suppress suppress suppress sup sup- press your stomachs stomach's ability to contract contract contract con con- tract and deaden the part of the brain stem that causes vomiting Scott had flown once previously and knew what to expect You can take the medicine or you can be a man he told me Im d f. f 71 q- q Tr T 1 J r 7 ir rj V p I CJ J J z w I x GRAVITY Anu Bhargava a recent graduate of Purdue University floats during a period of weightlessness aboard the the- KC Twice vice a year the plane has served as a lab for student research going to take the me me medicine I certainly planned to do the same although our instructors made it it clear that the pills dont don't work for everyone Even among some who take the medicine you can get so sick you think youre you're going to die Sharon Sands a NASA medical technician and instructor told us When the training ended the students students students stu stu- stu- stu dents were divided into groups of 12 or so known affectionately the instructors instructors' SOBs or souls on board A couple of days later it was my groups group's to fly From the outside the didn't look much different from a commercial commercial commercial commer commer- cial passenger jet but inside there were just a few rows of seats in the back The rest of the fuselage was open for experiments The walls were white and padded like an insane asylum Scott noted The engines roared and we were off As the rose over the Gulf of Mexico we were told to unbuckle from our seats and plop down on the floor in the center of the fuselage Within minutes we went into a steep climb I closed my eyes to steel myself for my first bout with zero gravity H By Y the time I 1 opened them I 1 Iwas Iwas was floating about a foot off the ground my knees curling slowly toward my chest On the ground gravity causes blood to pool in large veins mostly in your legs Without gravity the blood was shifting toward my chest chestand chestand chestand and head I didn't feel top-heavy top just free light and balanced A popular misconception about weightlessness is that gravity is reversed so you are somehow drawn toward the I c ceiling instead of the floor But there is no pull at all Floating requires no effort and swimming or OJ kicking ones one's legs does nothing to propel you or keep you in the air You wont won't move unless you push off Once you do you wont won't stop until you hit a wall Feet down yelled John the lead test director for the KC Coming out I settled slowly to the floor in a blissful heap as gravity returned at atthe atthe atthe the end of our first parabola In the next two hours we would do it 38 See NASA continued on page 9 NASA continued from page more times and when it was over we longed for more Once I became stuck in the middle of the fuselage floating floating floating float float- ing too far from the ceiling to push off and too far from the walls to guide myself down After a few seconds of pointless pointless pointless point point- less flailing I just waited when gravity kicked in I settled settled settled set set- back to the floor Later Bhargava went sailing by too wrapped up in her experiment to notice I was sho shocked ked at how easy it was to keep her from flying toward the back of the plane I simply cupped my hand put it on the top of her head and gently pushed her in the other direction tion Thanks she said cheer cheer- fully When I got the hang of it I could take a stroll of sorts during during dur dur- ing the periods of weightlessness weightless weightless- ness across the planes plane's floor right up the opposite wall over the ceiling and back down the theother theother theother other wall It was sp spectacular not because I was walking on the ceiling but because I felt no different walking there th than n walking on the floor No blood rushed to my head I didn't feel the need to b brace myself for fall The mechanics a of body felt normal I just my happened happened hap hap- to be standing ceiling on the who Si the NASA officer coordinates the bounded program by toward the end one of the last of parabolas I C cant can't believe to do this II I said you get paid Neither can I he said Neither Can I I. I Back on the had ground We all a tough time what wha We had been explaining few of us said thrOugh A We felt humble smaller somehow like a child first when big understands how the planet is is |
