The first parabolic flight carried out in Portugal, with 30 young people on board, was successfully carried out this Friday, from the Beja Air Base, where it landed at 12:02, about two hours after takeoff.
The flight was promoted by the Portuguese space agency Portugal Space, as part of the “Zero-G Portugal — Astronaut for a Day” initiative, which aims to stimulate young people’s interest in space.
The plane in which the young people were following, a aerobus a310, owned by the French company Novespace, which operated the flight over the Portuguese coast, in a reserved area of airspace, performed ascent and free fall maneuvers (parabolas) that made it possible to simulate the absence of gravity inside for brief cycles, in the that the passengers felt so light that they could, without being able to control them, somersaults in the air.
Parabolic flights are practically the only means on Earth capable of reproducing the effect of absence of gravity or microgravity, which only exists in space and is only felt by astronauts.
Young, students between 14 and 18 years oldthey were selected after the qualification tests and after landing they will receive a certificate of participation.
On board the plane that carried out the maneuvers in front of Monte Real, the German astronaut Mattias Maurerwho on May 6 returned from a six-month mission, the first, from the international space station, which he called “cosmic kiss”, for “love of space”.
the flight too allowed passengers to feel the effect of gravity on Mars and the Moonbut also the hyperactivity in which people feel heavier to the point that they cannot even lift an arm when lying on the ground.
In total, the aircraft of the Novespace company performed 16 parables (one more than anticipated at the request of the young), which cumulatively added about seven minutes of microgravity effect, including 20 seconds of Martian gravity and 40 seconds of lunar gravity.
Dozens of relatives of the young people witnessed the takeoff and landing of the airbus A310 in a hangar of the air base near the runway.
The Portuguese agency traveled at the invitation of Portugal Space.
Source: Observadora
