SKIRMISHER

Zero Gravity Corporation is taking renowned physicist Stephen Hawking for a “brief history with weightlessness.” On April 26, Hawking will be on board a modified Boeing 727 that will sharply soar to 32,000 feet then plunge 8,000 feet to create a zero gravity moment for Hawking to enjoy.

Zero Gravity CEO Peter Diamandis said assistants will be onboard to help Hawking.

“The key thing here is that weightless and personal spaceflight is something available to everyone, even someone like Prof. Hawking,” Diamandis told The Associated Press. “This something that almost everyone can now experience.”

Zero Gravity will pick up the bill, which normally is $3,750. The company also plans to have two seats on the flight auctioned off by two charities.

The physicist’s date with weightlessness will last for only 25 seconds, but knowing how smart he is, we’re sure he’ll find a way to instruct the plane’s pilots how to rip through the fabric of space-time to make it last way longer than it might seem for normal humans. Similarly, he might even begin working the charm with on-board assistants using big-shot physicist tricks involving weightless blobs of his saliva — disgusting to watch on Earth, we know — which can be breathtakingly awesome when allowed to freely float in the cabin like innocent little glass marbles, especially when suborbital sunshine hits them and gives them a particular otherworldly glitter.

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