You don’t have to be an astronaut to enjoy the excitement of feeling weightless. More and more opportunities are opening up, for a healthy price, for the regular man to go and experience zero gravity without going directly into space. But, by not going into space, zero gravity is a slightly different experience. Weightlessness is brought about by creating a centrifugal force on an object so that it offsets the gravitational force pulling it down. Simply put, this process cancels out the gravitational resistance that normally affects mass.

The most popular way of canceling out gravity’s pull is by going up on an airplane. When the plane ascends it must be on a steep angle then it must level off then drop into a dive. This maneuver is called a parabolic arc. This aeronautic maneuver creates a force causing gravity to pull in a vertical motion. Those things continuing with a horizontal velocity stay the same.

For example, when a plane goes up with the intent of simulating zero gravity, it must be at an altitude of about 30,000 feet. This distance is necessary to perform the parabolic arc. While at a 45 degree angle, the plane accelerates until it creates a force that equals almost twice that of normal gravity. At the top of the arc the centrifugal force built up is nullified by gravitation and all objects on board enter into free fall – zero gravity in other words. On most recreational flights offered this event lasts approximately 10 seconds.  But, they usually perform around 20 arc, giving you almost 2 minutes of weightlessness before the ride is completed.

The only other way to experience free fall is to be in orbit around a planet. The same concept is at play. As a spaceship accelerates around a planet without an opposing force, astronauts experience weightlessness, regardless of the forward momentum.