![]() It succeeded NASA 930, which NASA acquired in 1973 and flew more than 58,000 parabolas before being retired in 1995. This airplane, NASA 931, came to the space agency in late 1994. It is to be replaced by a Navy C-9, a twin-jet variant of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9. This will be the last of the KC-135As to be used in the Reduced Gravity Program. The KC-135A is part of a family of military planes descended from the Boeing 707 four-engine jet aircraft. More than 140,000 parabolas have been flown in a series of eight planes since the program began. The Reduced Gravity Program was begun by the Air Force in 1957 to train people, develop procedures and test hardware in weightlessness. Other maneuvers offer gravity equal to that on the surface of the moon, 17 percent that of Earth, or of Mars, 38 percent that of Earth. Image to left: A student experiences a moment of weightlessness aboard the KC-135A. The maneuvers are carefully choreographed - up at a 45-degree angle, "over the top" and then down at 45 degrees. Each gives people and equipment aboard about 25 seconds of weightlessness. The roller-coaster maneuvers are called parabolas, because of their geometric shape. But it is the only one of its kind still flying, and it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain the plane. John Yaniec, the program's lead test director, said the KC-135A is still going strong. "I learned an incredible amount about engineering in the real world." On the positive side, "The experience was amazing, and I wouldn't trade it for the world," a Rochester Institute of Technology student said. That's because about one in three first-time fliers gets airsick on the plane as it does its roller-coaster-like maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the astronauts, engineers testing equipment, scientists and students flying experiments remember it more fondly than others. This plane has been flying reduced gravity missions since 1994. 29 and will be retired at NASA's Johnson Space Center Oct. The latest of NASA's KC-135A aircraft, dubbed the Vomit Comet by the press, made its final microgravity flight Oct. Image to right: NASA's KC-135A aircraft ascends at a steep angle as it flies over the Gulf of Mexico. But even the most high-flying adventures have to end sometime.
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