Vomit Comet

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Vomit Comet is a nickname for any fixed-wing aircraft that briefly provides a nearly weightless environment in which to train astronauts, conduct research, and film motion pictures. Versions of such airplanes have in the past been operated by NASA Reduced Gravity Research Program, where the unofficial nickname originated. NASA has adopted the official nickname Weightless Wonder for publication. The aircraft achieves weightlessness by following an elliptic flight path relative to the center of the Earth. While following this path, the aircraft and its payload are in free fall and are literally orbiting the earth. During this time the aircraft does not exert any g-forces on its contents.