Post by officergroyman on Mar 28, 2007 20:34:12 GMT -1
Zero Gravity to Launch Vegas FlightsZero Gravity to Launch Vegas Flights
For $3,675—including tax—you can experience weightlessness above Las Vegas.
Tourists familiar with the ups and downs of gambling will soon be able to experience the real thing high above the Nevada desert.
The parabolic flight company that is giving physicist Stephen Hawking his first experience with weightlessness in April has decided to set up a base in Las Vegas and take paying customers on the ultimate thrill ride.
"This is not a New York-New York roller coaster ride," said Peter Diamandis, chief executive of Zero Gravity Corp., referring to the venerable attraction on the Las Vegas Strip. "We've really made it a high-quality Vegas-like experience."
Zero G will pipe in music and add a post-flight champagne party for its offering for $3,675 including tax, he said. The company expects to fly more than 100 times in its first year in Las Vegas. It also flies out of Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The company has taken 2,500 passengers on about 100 missions since it was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2004 during its "beta-testing" period, Diamandis said.
The company takes a modified Boeing 727 to 32,000 feet at a sharp angle and then plunges 8,000 feet so passengers can experience 25-second snippets of zero gravity during the descent. As the plane climbs, passengers experience 25 seconds of being pushed down hard, as they feel 1.8 times the normal pull of the Earth. This is repeated 15 times.
The company plans to market its Las Vegas flights, mostly on the weekend, through local hotel concierges, via a nationwide retailer and on major Web sites.
The first commercial flight from McCarran International Airport is set for April 21 following a week of promotions.
"We have to have a floating Elvis," he said
-------------------------------------------------------
or a floating funkster!!!!
For $3,675—including tax—you can experience weightlessness above Las Vegas.
Tourists familiar with the ups and downs of gambling will soon be able to experience the real thing high above the Nevada desert.
The parabolic flight company that is giving physicist Stephen Hawking his first experience with weightlessness in April has decided to set up a base in Las Vegas and take paying customers on the ultimate thrill ride.
"This is not a New York-New York roller coaster ride," said Peter Diamandis, chief executive of Zero Gravity Corp., referring to the venerable attraction on the Las Vegas Strip. "We've really made it a high-quality Vegas-like experience."
Zero G will pipe in music and add a post-flight champagne party for its offering for $3,675 including tax, he said. The company expects to fly more than 100 times in its first year in Las Vegas. It also flies out of Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The company has taken 2,500 passengers on about 100 missions since it was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2004 during its "beta-testing" period, Diamandis said.
The company takes a modified Boeing 727 to 32,000 feet at a sharp angle and then plunges 8,000 feet so passengers can experience 25-second snippets of zero gravity during the descent. As the plane climbs, passengers experience 25 seconds of being pushed down hard, as they feel 1.8 times the normal pull of the Earth. This is repeated 15 times.
The company plans to market its Las Vegas flights, mostly on the weekend, through local hotel concierges, via a nationwide retailer and on major Web sites.
The first commercial flight from McCarran International Airport is set for April 21 following a week of promotions.
"We have to have a floating Elvis," he said
-------------------------------------------------------
or a floating funkster!!!!
