This was me in Bordeaux, France at Novespace, a subsidiary of the French National Space Center, after signing up for a press trip with Zenith. It all started when my boss, Brice Lechevalier, asked me if I fancied floating around in space with the guys from Zenith, because he had prior engagement and couldn’t go. It seemed like a fabulously fun prospect at the time, and I told him I would love to take his place on this Zero-Gravity flight. But as the day got closer and my Google searching intensified, I started to have serious doubts about what I had signed up for.
Maybe my boss wasn’t busy after all, maybe he thought this was a particularly risky press trip and preferred to send me instead, maybe he was plotting to get rid of me! My mind was running out of control!
What Happens on a Parabolic Flight?
You see, my knowledge of floating around in space at the time of accepting this mission was really limited to cinema and television, where happy looking astronauts do somersaults and try and catch floating candy in their mouths. But once I started doing my homework, it quickly became apparent that the civilian zero gravity experience takes place on a regular airplane on what is called a parabolic flight. The airplane climbs at an angle of 50 degrees and then free falls for 22 seconds, creating total weightlessness. I saw diagrams, I checked out the Novespace website, I watched YouTube videos, and I was, quite honestly, petrified.
Meeting an Astronaut
Luckily, at dinner, I had the opportunity to sit next to a real life astronaut at dinner, Jean-Jacques Favier, who told me all about his experiences in space on a NASA flight, and what to expect on the parabolic flight. He explained what I would feel and how my body would react, which was reassuring. He also said that I would never be able to put in words because it is such a unique experience that you can’t possibly describe it to someone who had never done it. At this point, I was sold, and instead of being “petrified”, I moved down the scale to “extremely scared but excited and curious” too!
A Day as an Astronaut
The following day, dressed in an astronaut outfit (that I got to keep – thank you Zenith), our small crew of budding astronauts received a briefing from the experts, and boarded the plane. There were about 50 regular seats at the back of the plane and the belly of the cabin had been modified into a large padded area for floating. There were no windows in the floating chamber (apparently it would freak you out to look out the window, which was not reassuring to learn).
Once at optimal altitude, we were invited to enter the padded area and lie on the floor. As the plane climbed sharply for around 30 seconds, your body becomes twice its weight and you feel your limbs sink into the padded floor, but you feel your organs, brain and blood move too. It isn’t uncomfortable, just all rather strange. The plane then reaches its apex and goes into free fall, and you go from feeling extremely heavy to as light as a feather as you float up off of the floor.
We start with the gravity on Mars, followed by a few seconds of Moon gravity. Then the rest of the flight is total weightlessness. The sensation is indescribable. You are truly floating in air, a little like if you were floating in water, just there is nothing there, which is mind-blowing. The slightest movement sends your body into a spin. At one point I tried to correct my position by trying to “swim” much to the amusement of the flight attendants as it doesn’t work at all! Needless to say, physics was not my strong point in school.
The Zenith Defy Zero-G and Defy Double Tourbillon Get the Zero-G Experience
We do 16 parabolic flights in total, each one lasting about 22 seconds. To keep things interesting (not that anyone needed extra animation), the flight attendants let coloured water lose in the cabin so we could observe the droplets in suspension. This was followed by coloured balls that we had to try and catch, which was fun, but not as fun as when Romain Marietta, the Heritage and Product Development Director from Zenith, let two watches go – the Zenith DEFY Zero-G and the DEFY Double Tourbillon in sapphire crystal – to test and admire them in their natural element. Limited to 10 pieces each, all 20 watch lovers who purchase one of these timepieces will also receive a ticket to take their watch on a Zero-Gravity flight at their nearest flight center. How is that for a bonus?
Since I landed a couple of weeks, I have been boring everyone stupid with my parabolic adventures. I have been on a constant high since conquering my fears and experiencing zero gravity, and there is only one thing that I really want to do now, and that is have another go! Maybe I need to start saving for a DEFY, or find someone out there who has one, but is too scared to go!
