NASA Retires Vomit Comet 42
Mr. Christmas Lights writes "NASA just retired the last of the KC-135 'vomit comets' which were used for reduced (and zero-g) gravity research by flying a
parabolic trajectory for about 25 seconds of Zero-G.
Two of these planes (originally Air Force aerial tankers) were used with the
first one being retired in 2000. /. readers will be happy to know that among
the various achievements was 'at least 285 gallons of vomit' .. although
unknown how much when it was used for filming the Apollo 13 movie. NASA is replacing the KC-135's with a DC-9. There is some personal significance for me in that my father flew this airplane in the 1970's for the (real) Apollo astronauts ... he commented that maintaining the Zero-G profile was accomplished not by using the sensitive G-Meter, but by hanging a nut from a string in the cockpit ... if it drops, push forward, if it raises, pull back - simple but effective. There is a recent commercial offering in this area where for a measly $3,000, you can go for a ride in Gravity One ."
The VC's most important contribution... (Score:4, Funny)
Vomit wasn't the only bodily excretion when the vomit comit was used for filming The Uranus Experiment [imdb.com]. So I guess that makes 285 gallons of vomit and one pop-shot.
Re:The VC's most important contribution... (Score:2)
Re:The VC's most important contribution... (Score:2)
Oh, come on. Do you really need someone to explain to you the myriad bad puns that show up in the titles of pr0n? Are you seriously asking why they'd use the word Uranus? With movie titles like 'the Sperminator' ... hardly surprising.
If it'll make a 13 year old giggle, that's about the level of sophistication most porn goes for.
These kind of titles are pretty common.
Re:The VC's most important contribution... (Score:3, Informative)
Even if the military had supplied the equipment and personel, Porn economics dictates that it would be too expensive. The Porn industry could make a few hundred thousand features for the price of one brief spell of zero gravity.
Re:The VC's most important contribution... (Score:1)
Out of pure scientific interrest of course.
Re:The VC's most important contribution... (Score:2)
Repeating sentances (Score:3, Funny)
"Two of these planes (originally Air Force aerial tankers) were used with the first one being retired in 2000
...Two of these planes (originally Air Force aerial tankers) were used with the first one being retired in 2000"
Repeating sentances is fun!
Repeating sentances is fun!
Re:Repeating sentances (Score:1)
Poor Engineering (Score:4, Interesting)
he commented that maintaining the Zero-G profile was accomplished not by using the sensitive G-Meter, but by hanging a nut from a string in the cockpit
My, how far we have come. Nows it's all about thrust-vectoring, F-16 style fly by wire and HUDs. The original test pilots were literally flying by the seat of their pants.
I wonder why larger planes aren't being used for this type of work.
Re:Poor Engineering (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Poor Engineering (Score:2)
That sounds familiar to me as well. Then there was the M&M (or was it Skittles or Smarties) demonstration of weightlessness.
One thing we *don't* want to do is discourage kids from studying engineering.
I seem to keep repeating myself on this point, maybe I'll eventually get over the obsession.
oh, I remember those planes? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:oh, I remember those planes? (Score:2)
Re:oh, I remember those planes? (Score:1)
Had to wonder... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Had to wonder... (Score:1, Troll)
Little vomit on the movie (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Little vomit on the movie (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Little vomit on the movie (Score:2)
Absolutely. The weightless scenes in Apollo 13 are the real deal.
Re:Little vomit on the movie (Score:1)
Re:Little vomit on the movie (Score:3, Interesting)
An interesting "rumor" I heard about the movie was that the NASA geeks were given a special private preview screening of the film. The old timers all wanted to know where they got the footage of the launches, because they had seen it al
Re:Little vomit on the movie (Score:2)
The hard part was that each period of microgravity only lasted about 15 minutes. So that was the maximum length of any take.
Re:Little vomit on the movie (Score:2)
I actually rode on the Comet... (Score:4, Interesting)
Vomit Comet is obsolete. (Score:2)
G-Force-One not Gravity One (Score:1)
Save some money (Score:2)
But we were indeed weightless for a little while anyway, and yes, it was really an amazing feeling. I don't know if it's worth $3000 to do it without the seatbelts, though.
YAY! For the editors! (Score:2)
A real professional job, folks.
Yes, offtopic I know.
Dupe (Score:2, Funny)
Two of these planes (originally Air Force aerial tankers) were used with the first one being retired in 2000.
It's a new time-saving feature from the eds here at Slashdot. If they're going to make a story a dupe, they'll do them both at once!
NASA's been using that DC-9 since 1995. (Score:3, Informative)
A much bigger deal was the retirement, last August, of the Dash-80 [si.edu]. The Dash-80, the original KC-135/Boeing 707 prototype, first flew in 1954. It was used for many test programs therafter, flying until 2003. This was the prototype of the first really successful jetliner.
(The DeHavilland Comet flew years before the Dash-80, but the underpowered Comet had metal fatigue problems and all were grounded after several crashes. The Tupolev Tu-104 was a civilian version of the Badger bomber, braking chutes and all. The Dash-80/707/KC-135 was the first commercial transport that really worked.)
Re:NASA's been using that DC-9 since 1995. (Score:2)
Re:NASA's been using that DC-9 since 1995. (Score:1)
The good news is... (Score:2)