It started as a one-week programme on the latest emerging technology organised by Singularity University (SU) in NASA Ames, Mountain View, California. Through that, I was invited to the inaugural XPRIZE Adventure Trip. XPRIZE designs and launches big-time prizes in the domain areas of space, oceans, learning, health, energy, environment, transportation, safety and robotics. 

I worked hard to persuade my family that this was a worthwhile trip to miss Chinese New Year for. I am glad they let me, and I went.

The highlight of this trip was an out-of-this-world experience on board a Zero Gravity Corporation’s (ZeroG) Boeing 727, which is a regular plane with modifications. The cabin of the plane is stripped bare except for a few rows of seats at the back. The cabin has thick, white padding all around; this is to protect against head bumps when the participants float around in zero-gravity. By the way, did you know that there is no up or down in zero-gravity? At times, the ceiling becomes the floor.

So what is zero-gravity like? This is what I felt. 

The pilot hit the throttle. The plane started to climb, and it felt very steep. I felt the intense power of gravity. I had trouble lifting my head, with gravity pulling on my body harder than I ever felt before. My heart, my body, everything felt like it was being sucked to the floor, as if I were on an extreme amusement-park ride. I was experiencing 1.8g, that is, about 80 percent stronger than the standard gravity that we experience on earth.

Then I began to float. I experienced weightlessness. I pushed myself off with arms and legs outstretched in a “superman” manoeuvre. I tried drinking water poured out from a bottle, and it was literally trying to catch mercury-like balls of water instead.  The experience was like what I had imagined people who practised mindfulness feel when they reached that desired state. It was Zen-like, stress-less and stress-free.  At the same time, it was fun and exhilarating. This state of weightlessness lasted for about half a minute, but the concept of time is foreign when you are feeling blissful and levitating.

I am often asked these three questions by friends whenever I share my zero-gravity experience.

You went to space?  Well… no. I was on board a Boeing 727.  The weightlessness condition was achieved by doing aerobatic manoeuvres known as parabolas. For tech geeks, here’s a condensed tech spec and description: Before starting a parabola, G-FORCE ONE flies level to the horizon at an altitude of 24,000 feet. The pilots then begin to pull up, gradually increasing the angle of the aircraft to about 45° to the horizon to reach an altitude of 32,000 feet. During this pull-up, participants will feel the pull of 1.8 Gs. Next, the plane is “pushed over” to create the zero gravity segment of the parabola. For the next 20 to 30 seconds, everything in the plane is weightless. Next, a gentle pull-out is started, which allows the flyers to stabilize on the aircraft floor. Exhilarating!

Did you throw up? Well, I might have as I was told that 1 in 10 is likely to experience nausea and vomiting. But all participants on the zero-gravity flight were given motion sickness pills. Some took them but I did not. And no, I did not throw up.   

Were you training with astronauts?  No. The others with me on the flight came from a wide variety of backgrounds, including the CEO of a telecommunications company, the chairman of a large Indian conglomerate, and a number of entrepreneurs. Unlike astronauts who undergo extensive training, ours in contrast, was a short, 30 minute briefing which included a US Federal Aviation Administration-required safety video. While we are no astronauts, we are officially called fliers, not participants.

In any case, even if I may not have been a real astronaut, playing the part for a day was a never-to-be-forgotten,  bucket list experience.

And now… I’m looking forward to fly into the next to-do item on the list