{"id":10309,"date":"2014-07-24T14:02:14","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T18:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=10309"},"modified":"2024-07-08T17:42:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T21:42:23","slug":"vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/","title":{"rendered":"Vomit Comet Equals Opportunity of a Lifetime"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10311\" style=\"width: 285px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/07\/CATE3-528x396.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10311\" class=\"wp-image-10311 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/07\/CATE3-528x396-e1406224650436.jpg\" alt=\"image courtesy of UCFToday\" width=\"275\" height=\"206\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-10311\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">image courtesy of UCFToday<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Beginning on Monday, July 21,\u00a0UCF students\u00a0boarded a specially equipped plane that NASA uses to train astronauts and run microgravity experiments. The plane is nicknamed the vomit comet because first-time flyers tend to vomit as the plane hits zero gravity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy team and I have worked tirelessly for the past year to get our project up and going,\u201d said student team leader Kelly Lai, an undergraduate aerospace engineering major. \u201cNever in my wildest dreams would I ever think that I would have the opportunity to do this. This is definitely something I will be able to tell my grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The UCF team, led by Physics Professor Joshua Colwell, will be making several flights over three days from Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n<p>They will run an experiment developed for NASA\u2019s Undergraduate Student Instrumentation Program. The team proposed the experiment to NASA more than a year ago as a way to get insight into the early stages of planet formation. The project was one of 10 selected late last year. Since then the team has spent hundreds of hours in the lab turning its design into a working prototype.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Benjamin, a junior and the youngest member of the team, said he was both excited and nervous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to be so confident that I wouldn\u2019t get sick on the flight, but now I really don\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d said Benjamin, who is pursuing degrees in photonics and engineering.<\/p>\n<p>For Brad Hoover, the project marks the end of his academic career at UCF. He graduated, and his first job as an engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Silicon Valley, California, awaits him after the flights.<\/p>\n<p>He credits the hands-on learning at UCF for getting him to California.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe experience I have gained from working on microgravity projects like this one truly prepared to make an impact in the private space industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Colwell has been on several zero gravity flights before, thanks to NASA grants. The chance to see his students take an experiment and fly it, however, is priceless.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so excited to see their expressions when they feel weightlessness for the first time,\u201d Colwell said. \u201cThey have worked very hard and grown as a team. It is very satisfying as a professor to see their skills progress and the excitement they have about the research. I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also on the team are aerospace engineering major Allyson Whitaker, marketing major Sara Lane, physics major Chris Tiller and postdoctoral researcher Addie Dove.<\/p>\n<p>To read original story <a href=\"http:\/\/http:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-lifetime-job-one\/\">click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beginning on Monday, July 21,\u00a0UCF students\u00a0boarded a specially equipped plane that NASA uses to train astronauts and run microgravity experiments. The plane is nicknamed the vomit comet because first-time flyers tend to vomit as the plane hits zero gravity. \u201cMy team and I have worked tirelessly for the past year to get our project up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":10311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,13,14,28],"tags":[112,121,166,475,651,1166,1834,1859,1920,2105,2185,2292,2376,2681,2686,2750,2946,2962,3457,3701,3723,3814,3938],"class_list":["post-10309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-physics-departments","category-top-news","tag-adrienne-dove","tag-aerospace-engineering","tag-allyson-whitaker","tag-brad-hoover","tag-chris-tiller","tag-engineering","tag-johnson-space-center","tag-joshua-colwell","tag-kelly-lai","tag-lockheed-martin-space-systems-company","tag-marketing","tag-microgravity","tag-nasa","tag-photonics","tag-physics","tag-private-space-industry","tag-sam-benjamin","tag-sara-lane","tag-ucf","tag-undergraduate-student-instrumentation-program","tag-university-of-central-florida","tag-vomit-comet","tag-zero-gravity-flight"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Vomit Comet Equals Opportunity of a Lifetime - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vomit Comet Equals Opportunity of a Lifetime - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beginning on Monday, July 21,\u00a0UCF students\u00a0boarded a specially equipped plane that NASA uses to train astronauts and run microgravity experiments. The plane is nicknamed the vomit comet because first-time flyers tend to vomit as the plane hits zero gravity. \u201cMy team and I have worked tirelessly for the past year to get our project up [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-24T18:02:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-08T21:42:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/07\/CATE3-528x396-e1406224650436.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"206\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cosmarketing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cosmarketing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/643ef621e113dfba74a9e98de23a106d\"},\"headline\":\"Vomit Comet Equals Opportunity of a Lifetime\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-24T18:02:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-08T21:42:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":445,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/CATE3-528x396-e1406224650436.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Adrienne Dove\",\"aerospace engineering\",\"Allyson Whitaker\",\"Brad Hoover\",\"Chris Tiller\",\"Engineering\",\"Johnson Space Center\",\"Joshua Colwell\",\"Kelly Lai\",\"Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company\",\"marketing\",\"microgravity\",\"nasa\",\"photonics\",\"physics\",\"private space industry\",\"Sam Benjamin\",\"Sara Lane\",\"UCF\",\"Undergraduate Student Instrumentation Program\",\"University of Central Florida\",\"Vomit Comet\",\"zero gravity flight\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COS News\",\"News\",\"Physics\",\"Top News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/vomit-comet-equals-opportunity-of-a-lifetime\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vomit Comet Equals Opportunity of a Lifetime - 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