Giving a zero-G gift

For most people, Christmas morning means new socks, electronics or perhaps gift certificates to their favorite clothing store. Randy Rule’s present a couple of years ago was a chance to strap into the world’s fastest, highest-flying fighter jet and blast across the edge of space.

Mr. Rule, a partner in an Atlanta-based private equity firm, received the gift from his wife. It was through an Arlington-based company called Space Adventures that, according to President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Anderson, aspires to be the “company that can take people to space, to open up space over the next 10, 20, 30 years. To make space available — no pun intended.”

Space Adventures is about six years old, and it has already had a number of spectacular accomplishments. Most notable was the flight that brought millionaire Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS) in March 2001. South African Internet millionaire Mark Shuttleworth followed soon after. But Space Adventures also offers other flight experiences that more than 2,000 people have taken advantage of, such as Mr. Rule’s MiG-25 flight.

Between the high-ticket trip to the ISS and the relatively low-end supersonic flight are the “zero-G” and suborbital flights. Customers are flown in a converted cargo plane, a Russian Ilyushin-76, to about 30,000 feet for the zero-G flight. The Ilyushin flies upward at a 45-degree angle and then powers back the engines. The resulting glide over an arc — the parabola — gives passengers the sense of weightlessness for 30 seconds. This maneuver is repeated 10 times during the flight.

Suborbital flights are still at the planning stage. They would involve taking a rocket a hundred miles into space and coming back down. As the name implies, this isn’t a trip around the world, but it’s high enough to experience true spaceflight.

With recent news that the Bush administration is considering putting lunar exploration back on the national agenda, and the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight, Space Adventures is poised to capture the popular imagination and be a leader in commercial space travel.

“I think the next 100 years of aviation is going to be about spaceflight,” Mr. Anderson says. “The first hundred years of flight has been about aviation, and now we’re going to see the next 100 years dominated by spaceflight.”

Dreams aside, a coupon for a rocket flight makes a great stocking stuffer. “It’s a great gift. It’s unique. It’s fun. It’s an experience for a lifetime. You’ll never forget it,” he says.

For Mr. Rule, it was a very special gift, indeed. He immediately went to the computer and looked up Space Adventures’ Web site and signed up for several experiences. He describes his experiences in Moscow much like one would describe his trip to the end of the driveway to retrieve the morning paper. But this plain-spoken man waxes poetic when describing the experience of touching space.

He said: “I’ve slipped the surly bonds of Earth and reached out and touched the face of God. Those kinds of words sort of come to mind when you’re up there.”

After “touching the face of God” in the morning, he flew in the MiG-29 later that afternoon. The most aerobatic of Russia’s fighters, it is also, Mr. Rule says, “the one that worried our military so much.”

“We went up and actually did some flat turns where we were pulling 8 G’s. Then you’re in a full-G suit, which is compressing your thighs and stomach. That was pretty good.”

He said the Russian test pilot, Alexander Garnaev, then “turned the controls over to me and I flew the plane for about 20 minutes. I did about every maneuver I know, and he showed me a tail slide, which this plane does a lot better than almost any other plane that ever existed.”

He wrapped up his trip with some time in a Soyuz simulator, which astronauts use to practice docking with the ISS, a zero-G flight and a tour of Star City, Russia’s formerly supersecret space facility. He was there at the right time to witness Mr. Tito’s launch from Kazakhstan to the ISS.

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