‘First instinct is to swim’: my trip on a zero-gravity flight with an Esa astronaut

I t feels as if I’m hallucinating: as I lie on the floor, the ceiling suddenly sinks towards me and the walls begin to tilt at an impossible angle. It is my first experience of zero gravity on an European Space Agency (Esa) parabolic flight. In theory I know what is going on, but my brain just cannot grasp that it is actually me that is floating, that I’m suspended midair.

I am accompanying Britain’s first female Esa astronaut, Rosemary Coogan, on the flight as part of her zero gravity training for a potential six-month deployment to the International Space Station. During the three-hour flight, sometimes referred to as the vomit comet, the plane will trace out 31 parabolas – soaring arcs in the sky.

As we await take-off, any nerves I felt have been replaced by excitement, my confidence bolstered by the spacesuit I have been issued and a generous injection of antinausea medication.

The plane will not, literally, be exiting the Earth’s gravitational sphere. Instead, it follows a rollercoaster trajectory designed to simulate zero gravity. Each parabola begins with a steep climb, with the plane reaching a 50-degree angle and close to its maximum speed. At this point, the engines are all but cut and the plane and everyone within are slingshotted into a freefall trajectory. Gravity still exists in the outside world, but not within the plane’s frame of reference. After 22 seconds, the engines rev up again, the plane nosedives and anyone airbound will be dumped unceremoniously back on the floor.

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