What does NASA think of Zero Gravity Corporation?
Senior officials at NASA have been very supportive of ZERO-G efforts. The Company hopes to offer the government services at some time in the future. The President’s Management Initiative has directed Federal Agencies to take advantage of commercially available capabilities for services that are not inherently governmental. In performing a review for the Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) act to identify in-house activities that could be competitively sourced, parabolic flight services was identified as a function that is not inherently governmental.
Senior officials at NASA have been very supportive of Zero G efforts. In January of 2008, NASA contracted with Zero G to perform parabolic flights for NASA-operated experiments and personnel. The relationship marks a milestone for NASA’s parabolic operations, which have previously used government aircraft and personnel, and is the first time a commercial operator has been contracted to provide weightless flight services. Zero G’s flights will primarily initiate from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. NASA most recently operated its own C-9 aircraft, a military version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, to conduct its reduced-gravity flight program. Compared to NASA’s C-9, G-Force One is significantly larger, carrying 50% more passengers, and is 75% larger in volume.
