We started the day eagerly waiting for our flights and filled with excitement for Team Brilliant to get on their first zero gravity flight. We loaded into the cars by teams, all thankful that we got an extra hour of sleep.
Once we made it to Ellington, we checked the pressure of the vacuum tubes and then began loading them onto the plane. Team Brilliant went into their pre-flight briefing and received their medicine.
It’s interesting to see how each person reacts to the motion-sickness medicine. Brad hates needles and looked so pale like he might pass out. Luckily no one passed out and no one got sick.
“We’ve gotten a lot of data from both flights! While not all of the tubes are working exactly how we thought they might,” Addie said, “we’re also seeing interesting effects from the interactions of the “clouds” with the marbles and with the walls.”
“I have never experienced anything like this. I can easily say that this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Brad said.
“Zero gravity was the coolest sensation I have ever felt,” Allyson said.
“It was an unreal experience,” Sam said. “Much of the time was spent tethered to the floor and focusing intensely on the science, but even then, it was wild to do this experiment while actively having to stop myself from floating away toward the walls and ceiling.”
Our second flight ended up getting canceled because we couldn’t get the airspace. We have one flight left tomorrow for our new combined team, Team Excellent, composed of Addie, Allyson, Brad, and Kelly. Team Excellent will get to experience a string of 60 to 65 parabolas in the name of science tomorrow!
