Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary
There's nothing like good friends, good memories and zero gravity to celebrate a milestone.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek series, George Takei boarded a zero gravity plane with husband Brad Altman, (Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's son) Rod Roddenberry and a few die-hard fans.
Zero-G Corporation and Roddenberry Adventures. provided the plane. Once weightless, Takei and his fellow passengers were able to float and perform flips in the air with ease.
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"Takei said the experience is something he’d love to do again and is even planning on using one of the flight photos in his Christmas card," Zero-G said in a statement.
Zero gravity planes look like any other planes, but have some of their seats removed to give space for passengers to float around.
In order to make passengers weightless (without leaving Earth, of course), the aircraft quickly climbs in altitude in steep, parabolic arcs. Then, once the plane has reached the peak of the arc, it points downward, and that's when passengers feel like they're floating.
It creates about 30 seconds of zero-g during each parabola. Think of that strange, somewhat stomach-flipping feeling you get when you reach the top of a roller coaster, just before you start rolling down -- it's a little bit like that.
In addition to simulating a flight to space with Hikaru Sulu, fans got to take pictures with Takei and geek out over memorable moments from the show.
Even the Enterprise didn't look this awesome.
Topics Star Trek
Andrea Romano -- comedy writer, craft enthusiast, lady -- was a Watercooler Reporter. She worked as an intern at Mashable beginning in January 2014. Andrea recently completed her Masters degree in Media Studies and Film from The New School and writes sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade and The People's Improv Theatre. She once watched three Paul Rudd movies in a row on a bicoastal flight and didn't realize it until she landed. She does things like that a lot. Twitter: @theandrearomano
