 Wow, wow, there's nothing like it. I've been surrounded by spaceflight my whole life, but the only real way to know what space is like is to go there. Unfortunately, NASA hasn't picked me for its next astronaut class, but I've got a ticket for the next best thing. Meet the Vomit Comet. Well, that's just its nickname. It's a plane that does parabolic flight to simulate zero-g. I'm sure I probably don't bite that. But first, I wanted to know what to expect, so I turned to an expert for help, my mom. First time when my boss Brian Morris told me he wanted me to do it, I said no. She got to fly on an old plane that NASA used to own that did zero-g in order to test out new technologies for space. Don't suddenly try to do a whole bunch of jumping around and swinging around right away. Get yourself acclimated, keep your head still. Okay, so what were the name of the drugs they gave you? I don't know, but I can tell you what they gave me was this really large capsule that had basically it's an upper and a downer. I think the downer is for the stomach, you know, to settle you down in the upper so you don't go to sleep. All right, well, thank you for your advice and terrifying forecasting, mom. Love you. Bye. Love you too. Bye. Well, that was helpful. At that point, there wasn't much more to do, but we are headed to the place where we're going to make all of my astronaut dreams come true, Newark Airport. I've been thinking about it for so long and we're getting so close, but I haven't put two and two together that we're actually going to do this today. I think once we're on the plane, then the butterflies will start to set in. Parabolic flights have been used in the past to prepare astronauts for what microgravity will feel like. And these days, it's also used to give civilians a taste of that astronaut life. Now that we're on the bus, I'm starting to freak out. Just mildly freak out. I'm like, ah. Oh no, I hope I don't throw up. I'm not going to throw up. I'm not. All right, it's time for us to board. Sorry, it's a plane, so it's loud. I'm not sure how to describe how I feel. We'll see what we can do. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I can't wait to get up there. The flight breakdown was like this. They're starting us off easy. We start off with Martian gravity, which is only a third of your weight. Then we'll go to lunar gravity, which is one sixth, and then zero G. Can you tell? I was really excited. We're about to become Martians, oh my god! Martian gravity just made everything feel so easy. So of course the first thing to do is something that sucks here on Earth. I can't even do a one-arm push-up. I promise I do actually work out. Alright, you're gonna be able to do it. Welcome to the moon. Say hi. So now we're at 1-6 gravity, or lunar gravity. And it really felt like the plane was slipping away from me. There's no light coming out of that. Woo! I can't believe we're gonna get more weight lifted than that. That's pretty sick. Okay, so before we go fully zero-g, you gotta understand how this all works. The plane is flying in these parabolas, or basically, it does a series of peaks and valleys. As the plane climbs, it starts to slow down before reaching the top of the peak. The entire plane and everyone inside shift into freefall. That's when you experience zero-g. It's a bit like the floating feeling you get when you're on a roller coaster that's zooming over a large hill. Here we go, we're ready. I can feel it! Oh my god! No kicking, no flailing! Woo! That is unreal. I can't even describe it. I can tell why people become astronauts now, that's for sure. Just imagine when you float to the top of a pool, except without the water, and you move just slightly and the floor immediately becomes the ceiling. The entire room is changing perspective all the time. It's about to happen. It's coming, I know it. At first, it's really disorienting, and if you get going in one direction, it's hard to recover. I really can't control where I'm going. Oh, sorry! Luckily, there were some ropes to grab onto. Heck, even the astronauts on the space station have to learn to get a grip just to do their jobs. There are foot restraints all over the ISS so that the crew doesn't float away while performing delicate lab work. My job was just to not crash into the back of the plane. I'm just surrendering to it. I don't have a... Feet down! So you may be wondering why they keep yelling feet down. I covered a lot of ground on that one. Well, these weightless experiences only last around 22 seconds, and you gotta get on the floor as the plane starts to speed up on its descent. As the plane does a valley, you then pull extra Gs. 1.8 to be exact. Just to hold this little GoPro is actually pretty hard. I did 1.8 Gs. Imagine feeling like someone is pressing down on all the parts of your body. This may seem like the boring part of the trip, but being able to sustain extra Gs is another part of being an astronaut. When you ride on the Soyuz, you pull about 3 to 4 Gs during launch, and then 5 Gs, maybe even 8 during the descent back to Earth. But of course, the fun part is the floating, and after I got the hang of it, I tried to do some tricks. I was weirdly obsessed with flipping. I'm gonna try and spin this time. Let's do like a legit spin. Woo! Thanks to my preparation, though, I didn't get sick. But that was not the case for the rest of the flight. Getting sick in space is a very real problem, too. When astronauts first get to orbit, many deal with something called Space Adaptation Syndrome, as the body's sense of balance adapts to microgravity. After 15 parabolas, the experience definitely started to take its toll, and when the pilot said we were done, I was kind of relieved. I'm definitely feeling some bad mojo in the stomach, but I think I'm okay. We're leveled out now. Now I just gotta go sit down and get back on the telegram. And I couldn't wait to tell my mom that I'm better at space than she is. I'm so glad I finally got a taste of what being in zero gravity really feels like, even if it was for just 22 seconds at a time. But maybe that's enough to send me into orbit now? No! Wait, wait, wait. It's on the floor! Oh no! I got it!
 Wow, wow, there's nothing like it.
 I've been surrounded by spaceflight my whole life, but the only real way to know what space
 is like is to go there.
 Unfortunately, NASA hasn't picked me for its next astronaut class, but I've got a ticket
 for the next best thing.
 Meet the Vomit Comet.
 Well, that's just its nickname.
 It's a plane that does parabolic flight to simulate zero-g.
 I'm sure I probably don't bite that.
 But first, I wanted to know what to expect, so I turned to an expert for help, my mom.
 First time when my boss Brian Morris told me he wanted me to do it, I said no.
 She got to fly on an old plane that NASA used to own that did zero-g in order to test out
 new technologies for space.
 Don't suddenly try to do a whole bunch of jumping around and swinging around right away.
 Get yourself acclimated, keep your head still.
 Okay, so what were the name of the drugs they gave you?
 I don't know, but I can tell you what they gave me was this really large capsule that
 had basically it's an upper and a downer.
 I think the downer is for the stomach, you know, to settle you down in the upper so you
 don't go to sleep.
 All right, well, thank you for your advice and terrifying forecasting, mom.
 Love you.
 Bye.
 Love you too.
 Bye.
 Well, that was helpful.
 At that point, there wasn't much more to do, but we are headed to the place where we're
 going to make all of my astronaut dreams come true, Newark Airport.
 I've been thinking about it for so long and we're getting so close, but I haven't put
 two and two together that we're actually going to do this today.
 I think once we're on the plane, then the butterflies will start to set in.
 Parabolic flights have been used in the past to prepare astronauts for what microgravity
 will feel like.
 And these days, it's also used to give civilians a taste of that astronaut life.
 Now that we're on the bus, I'm starting to freak out.
 Just mildly freak out.
 I'm like, ah.
 Oh no, I hope I don't throw up.
 I'm not going to throw up.
 I'm not.
 All right, it's time for us to board.
 Sorry, it's a plane, so it's loud.
 I'm not sure how to describe how I feel.
 We'll see what we can do.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I'm so excited.
 I can't wait to get up there.
 The flight breakdown was like this.
 They're starting us off easy.
 We start off with Martian gravity, which is only a third of your weight.
 Then we'll go to lunar gravity, which is one sixth, and then zero G.
 Can you tell?
 I was really excited.
 We're about to become Martians, oh my god!
 Martian gravity just made everything feel so easy.
 So of course the first thing to do is something that sucks here on Earth.
 I can't even do a one-arm push-up.
 I promise I do actually work out.
 Alright, you're gonna be able to do it.
 Welcome to the moon. Say hi.
 So now we're at 1-6 gravity, or lunar gravity.
 And it really felt like the plane was slipping away from me.
 There's no light coming out of that.
 Woo!
 I can't believe we're gonna get more weight lifted than that.
 That's pretty sick.
 Okay, so before we go fully zero-g, you gotta understand how this all works.
 The plane is flying in these parabolas, or basically,
 it does a series of peaks and valleys. As the plane climbs,
 it starts to slow down before reaching the top of the peak. The entire plane
 and everyone inside shift into freefall. That's when you experience
 zero-g. It's a bit like the floating feeling you get when you're on a roller coaster
 that's zooming over a large hill.
 Here we go, we're ready. I can feel it!
 Oh my god!
 No kicking, no flailing!
 Woo!
 That is unreal.
 I can't even describe it.
 I can tell why people become astronauts now, that's for sure.
 Just imagine when you float to the top of a pool, except without the water,
 and you move just slightly and the floor immediately becomes the ceiling.
 The entire room is changing perspective all the time.
 It's about to happen. It's coming, I know it.
 At first, it's really disorienting,
 and if you get going in one direction, it's hard to recover.
 I really can't control where I'm going. Oh, sorry!
 Luckily, there were some ropes to grab onto. Heck, even the astronauts on the
 space station have to learn to get a grip just to do their jobs. There are foot restraints
 all over the ISS so that the crew doesn't float away while performing delicate
 lab work.
 My job was just to not crash into the back of the plane.
 I'm just surrendering to it.
 I don't have a...
 Feet down!
 So you may be wondering why they keep yelling
 feet down. I covered a lot of ground on that one. Well, these weightless
 experiences only last around 22 seconds, and you gotta get on the floor
 as the plane starts to speed up on its descent. As the plane does a valley, you then
 pull extra Gs. 1.8 to be exact.
 Just to hold this little GoPro is actually pretty hard.
 I did 1.8 Gs. Imagine feeling like someone is pressing down
 on all the parts of your body. This may seem like the boring part of the trip,
 but being able to sustain extra Gs is another part of being an
 astronaut. When you ride on the Soyuz, you pull about 3 to 4 Gs during
 launch, and then 5 Gs, maybe even 8 during the descent back to
 Earth. But of course, the fun part is the floating, and after
 I got the hang of it, I tried to do some tricks. I was weirdly obsessed
 with flipping.
 I'm gonna try and spin this time. Let's do like a legit spin.
 Woo!
 Thanks to my preparation, though, I didn't get sick.
 But that was not the case for the rest of the flight.
 Getting sick in space is a very real problem,
 too. When astronauts first get to orbit, many deal with something called
 Space Adaptation Syndrome, as the body's sense of balance adapts to microgravity.
 After 15 parabolas, the experience definitely started
 to take its toll, and when the pilot said we were done, I was kind of
 relieved.
 I'm definitely feeling some bad
 mojo in the stomach, but I think I'm okay. We're leveled out
 now. Now I just gotta go sit down and get back on the telegram.
 And I couldn't wait to tell my mom that I'm better at space than she is.
 I'm so glad I finally got a taste of what being in zero gravity
 really feels like, even if it was for just 22 seconds at a time.
 But maybe that's enough to send me into orbit now?
 No! Wait, wait, wait.
 It's on the floor!
 Oh no! I got it!