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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 26 2007, 06:24 AM (299 Views) | |
| apple | Apr 26 2007, 06:24 AM Post #1 |
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one of the angels
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i met Stephen Hawking (in a reception line) The Bearable Lightness of Being Scientific heavyweight Stephen Hawking experiences weightlessness. BY TAYLOR DINERMAN Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT The news that British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking will be experiencing weightlessness today onboard Zero-G Corp.'s modified Florida-based Boeing 727, during a flight that is expected to last about one hour, dramatizes one of the greatest potential virtues of creating a spacefaring civilization--the huge advantage that being in space gives to individuals whose illnesses are made worse by the Earth's gravitational field. Prof. Hawking is a longtime space advocate, and he seized on this opportunity--paid for by Zero G (flights generally cost $3,500; go to www.gozerog.com for details) and supported by the Space Florida industrial promotion organization--to experience what it is like to be in outer space. Orbital treatment centers for people suffering--like Prof. Hawking--from Lou Gehrig's disease, or from muscular dystrophy, paraplegia or any number of other conditions, will likely be an integral part of future space developments. In an email to me, Prof. Hawking wrote, "I hope many others, both disabled and those inspired by space, will follow after me and experience weightlessness." On Earth, taking care of someone with Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), requires constantly moving the person into and out of a wheelchair. Simple bathroom functions are a major chore for both the patient and caregiver. Deep-tissue massage is needed every day. All of these functions could be handled more easily and with greater dignity for all involved if gravity were not a factor. To be allowed to carry Prof. Hawking, Zero-G needed to obtain a unique certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)--no one has ever flown a disabled person in weightlessness before. Prof. Hawking will be accompanied by a team of three doctors and at least two of the Cambridge professor's experienced caregivers. Taking care of Prof. Hawking during the flight presents an important challenge. For about a minute he will be weightless, in free-fall inside the Boeing 727's padded cabin, but that will not last long. As gravity is re-established, the dead weight of the body over which he has no control will render him even more helpless than he is in his wheelchair. Making things even more difficult is the fact that both before and after weightlessness passengers experience about 1.8 G's--their bodies weigh almost twice what they do in Earth normal gravity (1 G) as the aircraft climbs and then dives. Even healthy people who take these flights need to be assisted by experienced crew members. Weightless tourist flights with Russian crew members have long been available through Virginia-based Space Adventures, the same company that has organized five private visits to the International Space Station using Soyuz rockets launched from the old Soviet base at Baikonur in Kazakhstan. Being in microgravity (since there is always some gravitational effect, this is the correct term) for any length of time changes one's metabolism. The human heart, for example, becomes like a ball rather than the "heart"-shaped organ it is on Earth. Blood flows closer to the outer layers of the skin, giving astronauts a characteristic puffy face. It is estimated that a six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS) causes an average 11% loss of bone density. NASA is working hard to find a way to keep its personnel healthy during long-duration space operations, either on the moon base planned for sometime in the 2020s or on a later trip to Mars. If Stephen Hawking's pioneering efforts, both on this flight and on the one he plans to take with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic when its rocket is ready, lead to private clinics in orbit, or at least to spaceflight opportunities for people with disabilities, we will have to rethink what it means to be an astronaut. As this aspect of human space travel develops, there will be many more opportunities to study how the human body adapts or fails to adapt to the space environment. John Glenn's 1998 flight on the space shuttle was just the most recent example of a less than perfect human specimen flying into space. There have been a few other amateur astronauts who've needed special treatment, but no one with anything like the needs of a truly disabled person. At the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs earlier this month, Robert Bigelow of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace announced plans to launch "habitable modules in Low Earth Orbit." Bigelow wants his facilities to provide a place where governments and organizations that may lack access to the International Space Station or their own human spaceflight programs can send their astronauts to perform research. Mr. Bigelow plans to launch the first operational inflatable module designed for three people in 2010, and larger complexes beginning in 2012. Mr. Bigelow expects that his company will provide "wholesale" services to governments and major international corporations that want to do research or manufacturing in space. A large hospital could, perhaps, make a deal to outfit one or more of the modules as an orbital medical facility. Liability and safety questions would need to be resolved, since this would be the first facility of its kind. Mr. Bigelow explained that "the last thing the private spaceflight industry needs is for harm to come to any client." By the end of the next decade, there will be a large number of very rich baby boomers who will have both the money and the need to live out their final days in weightlessness. At some future point, going to space to visit grandma or great-grandma might be a normal part of growing up for thousands of kids world-wide. Such an orbital home was anticipated in the classic story "Waldo" by the science-fiction grand master Robert A. Heinlein, whose centennial will be celebrated this year. As is so often the case in the space industry, what can be imagined can eventually be done, but it is often more difficult than expected. In one of the answers to my questions, Prof. Hawking wrote: "I think that getting a portion of the human race off the ground is imperative for our future as a species. It will be difficult to do this with slow, expensive and risk-adverse government space programs. We need to engage the entrepreneurial engine that has reduced the cost of everything from airline tickets to personal computers. Personal spaceflight is the first mass market [outer-space venture] and zero-gravity flights are the first, most affordable step in that direction. I am hopeful that if we can engage this mass market, the cost of spaceflight will drop, and we will be able to gain access to the resources of space and also to spread humanity beyond the Earth." Mr. Dinerman writes a weekly column for the Space Review, (www.thespacereview.com), and does consulting for the Department of Defense. His views in no way represent those of the department |
| it behooves me to behold | |
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| Mark | Apr 26 2007, 08:28 AM Post #2 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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___.___ (_]===* o 0 When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells | |
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| LadyElton | Apr 26 2007, 08:59 AM Post #3 |
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Fulla-Carp
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Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time) Music by Elton John Lyrics by Bernie Taupin Available on the album Honky Château She packed my bags last night pre-flight Zero hour nine a.m. And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then I miss the earth so much I miss my wife It's lonely out in space On such a timeless flight And I think it's gonna be a long long time Till touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home Oh no no no I'm a rocket man Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids In fact it's cold as hell And there's no one there to raise them if you did And all this science I don't understand It's just my job five days a week A rocket man, a rocket man And I think it's gonna be a long long time... © 1972 Dick James Music Limited |
| Hilary aka LadyElton | |
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| George K | Apr 26 2007, 03:33 PM Post #4 |
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Finally
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Physicist Hawking gets taste of zero-gravity By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - British physicist Stephen Hawking took a flight on Thursday that gave the renowned scientist, who is confined to a wheelchair, a taste of the weightlessness of space. Hawking, 65, and an entourage of caretakers and other thrill-seekers took off from the space shuttle's runway at the Kennedy Space Center in a specially modified jet that dives through the sky to give passengers an experience of zero gravity. British physicist Stephen Hawking (in wheelchair) is seen after his ZERO-G flight at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida April 26, 2007. Hawking took a flight on Thursday that gave the renowned scientist, who is confined to a wheelchair, a taste of the weightlessness of space. (REUTERS/Charles W Luzier) They returned to the space center in Florida about two hours later after doing eight of the dives, giving him four minutes of weightlessness. "It was amazing," Hawking said afterwards. "Space here I come," he said, referring to his hope that the experience will prepare him for a real sub-orbital space flight in the future. Hawking acknowledged before the flight that experiencing weightlessness, even for a few seconds, would be sweet relief from the bondage of a daily life immobilized by a debilitating and irreversible neuromuscular disorder. "I have been wheelchair-bound for almost four decades and the chance to float free in zero G will be wonderful," Hawking told a pre-flight news conference. The acclaimed cosmologist and best-selling author of "A Brief History of Time," who has posited theories to help explain black holes and other celestial phenomena, lost his ability for natural speech after a tracheotomy that followed a bout of pneumonia in 1985. He speaks with the aid of a computer-controlled voice synthesizer. Hawking said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that he feared that the human race did not have a future if it didn't go into space. "I therefore want to encourage public interest in space. A zero-gravity flight is the first step towards space travel," he said. "Life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers," Hawking added at the news conference. In a reference to his affliction, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, Hawking noted that his flight also would serve as a demonstration that "everybody can participate in this type of experience." During these flights, participants experience at least one free-fall, lasting about 25 seconds, where they float up from the floor. The maneuver is accomplished as the plane flies toward the ground following a steep climb. The ride, which normally costs $3,500, was courtesy of Florida-based Zero Gravity Corp., which operates a commercial zero-gravity service similar to what NASA uses to train astronauts. Hawking hopes to make a suborbital spaceflight aboard a new passenger service being developed by Virgin Atlantic Airway's offshoot, Virgin Galactic, expected to begin in 2009. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| LadyElton | Apr 27 2007, 05:36 AM Post #5 |
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Fulla-Carp
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I saw the story on the news last night. The look on Hawking's face was one of pure joy. I could not help from feeling so happy for him. |
| Hilary aka LadyElton | |
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| George K | Apr 27 2007, 12:14 PM Post #6 |
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Finally
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![]() A flight parabola aboard G-Force One produces about 30 seconds to 1 minute of weightlessness and requires 10 miles of airspace to perform, at an altitude between 24,000 and 34,000 feet. The maneuver goes this way: The plane heads upward at about a 45-degree angle, then starts downward again at about a 30-degree angle--weightlessness occurs as the plane goes over the top of that parabolic curve. The plane has been nicknamed the "vomit comet" because of the roller coaster sensation of the ride. ![]() For a short while on Thursday, physicist and author Stephen Hawking was up and out of his wheelchair-- and out of the grip of gravity. The weightless experience aboard an airplane in Earth's atmosphere underscored a point Hawking has been making in recent months: that the future of the human race is in outer space. Hawking called the experience "amazing," saying in a statement "I could have gone on and on--space here I come. ![]() To experience weightlessness, Hawking started out flat on his back on the floor of the padded compartment in the Zero-G plane, dubbed G-Force One. As the plane moved through a series of eight parabolic flight segments, he rose into the air for roughly a minute and then was guided back down as normal gravity returned. Also aboard the plane were four physicians, including two from Hawking's own medical staff. Hawking has ALS--amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, which gradually robs people of the use of their muscles. Now 65, he has been confined to a wheelchair for nearly four decades and now communicates largely through small facial movements, often using them to generate computer-rendered speech ![]() Hawking, best known for his book A Brief History of Time, leaves the plane after the flight. The flight was also a benefit for several charities, including Easter Seals, the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation and Augie's Quest. Zero Gravity has been selling rides to the public since 2004, at a cost of several thousand dollars apiece. The fee was waived for Hawking. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Apr 27 2007, 12:25 PM Post #7 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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Good for Hawking. ![]() I'm truly happy for the guy. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| George K | Apr 27 2007, 12:30 PM Post #8 |
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Finally
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A brilliant mind in a destroyed body. I am surprised, considering the severity of his disablity, that he is still alive. Good, even excellent, care will not assure longevity (Christopher Reeve), but he seems to be fortunate (if that's the word) in at least this one regard. As an aside, I used to work with a surgeon who spent time doing a fellowship in Cambridge. He met many graduate students who worked with/for Hawking. He says that Hawking was impossible, insufferable, arrogant and unbelievably demanding: just like Newton. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Apr 27 2007, 12:33 PM Post #9 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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It's good for the rest of humanity that he still is alive. Has anyone here ever read his books? Hawking is for 21st century physics as Einstein was for his time. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| George K | Apr 27 2007, 12:38 PM Post #10 |
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Finally
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I've read A Brief History of Time three times. Always hoping that the last half would become comprehensible to me. I have failed, and will not attempt again. I tried The Universe in a Nutshell as well, with similar results. However, my favorite anecdote is how the name "Black Hole" came to be, and how it was offensive to the French, for whom the term "Black Hole" has a certain, well, unsavory flavor to it. They preferred the term "Dark Star." However, Black Hole stuck, and we have it now, forever. Several years later there was an article in, I think Science which described the event horizon of a black hole, and it postulated that it is impossible to be ON the event horizon. You're either inside or outside. One can't be partially in it, with your legs sticking out of the horizon. The name of the article was "Black Holes Have No Hair." Hawking comments that, perhaps, the French were right, after all. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Apr 27 2007, 12:48 PM Post #11 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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I forget who it was with, but he bet a fellow physicist a year's subscription to Playboy magazine that Black Holes do not exist. Hawking claimed the bet did not reflect how he felt, but rather it was an insurance policy. If he lost, then Black Holes did indeed exist, which was something he postulated for years but had yet to prove. If he won, well... at least he got the subscription. :lol: |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| George K | Apr 27 2007, 12:51 PM Post #12 |
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Finally
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Smart man, that Hawking.
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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