Win a trip to the Ice Hotel in Lapland
SO much for the theory, now he’s heading for space . . . Stephen Hawking, the physicist and author of A Brief History of Time, will briefly escape the earthly confines of his wheelchair this week when he makes a weightless flight at 32,000ft aboard a simulated “spaceship”, writes Maurice Chittenden.
The Cambridge professor takes off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, launchpad for moon shots and the space shuttle. For bursts of 25 seconds at a time, the world’s best known expert on the cosmos will shake off the bounds of gravity and float around an aircraft cabin.
It should leave him feeling freer than he has done since he developed the muscle-wasting motor neurone disease as a student.
Two doctors, two nurses and a graduate assistant, all strapped down, will use their hands to guide him around the chamber and try to ensure he does not injure himself by colliding with equipment. Video cameras and a photographer will capture this entry into aeronautical history.
Hawking, 65, is the first person with severe disabilities to make such a trip. It will prepare him to go into real space in 2009 as a passenger aboard one of Sir Richard Branson’s first commercial suborbital missions.
Industry sectors news at a glance. Interactive heatmap, video and podcast
The inside track on current trends in the charity, not for profit and social enterprise sectors
Read our exclusive 100 Years of Fleming and Bond interactive timeline, packed with original Times articles and reviews
Everything the Business Traveller needs to know to make a better trip
Shortcuts to help you find sections and articles
05/2005
£13,500
08/2008
£109,950
2005 / 55
£59,500
Great car insurance deals online
£Excellent+ executive benefits
Torres and Partners
London
£49,229 - £62,035 pro rata
Charity Commission
London/Liverpool/Taunton
Alstom Power
Europe
Six Figure
Rolls Royce
Midlands/Europe
From £89,950
Special Offers now available
At the new sophisticated
Encore Las Vegas Resort!
Cruise the Islands of Hawaii - Pride of America
List your property with two leading travel websites
Great travel insurance deals online
Contact our advertising team for advertising and sponsorship in Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times, or place your advertisement.
Times Online Services: Dating | Jobs | Property Search | Used Cars | Holidays | Births, Marriages, Deaths
News International associated websites: Globrix | Property Finder | Milkround
Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions. Please read our Privacy Policy.To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from Times Online, The Times or The Sunday Times, click here.This website is published by a member of the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69.
I hope he will get some heavenly inspiration up there and come up with the solution to the grand unified theory which has eluded all the best scientists in the world so far. Perhaps we are only building castle in the air because finding a theory that can explain everything is just a pie in the sky. To look for the ultimate solution is like a dog chasing it's tail, it is a never ending and exhausting business.
Wing, Poole, UK