Stephen Hawking: Going into space!

This man has defied the odds to an impossible degree, and given so much to the understanding of our universe. I hope he gets the chance to experience this.

Stephen Hawking to Visit Space Aboard Virgin Galactic

World-famous physicist Stephen Hawking plans to join an eager lineup of customers for Virgin Galactic suborbital flights.

In an interview on Monday with the British program Good Morning Britain, the physicist and cosmologist said that he's been wanting to visit space ever since he experienced a weightless flight aboard a plane that flies parabolic loops to simulate zero gravity. He was likely referring to a Zero Gravity Corp. flight in 2007 aboard a specially-modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft called G-FORCE ONE.

"My ambition is to fly into space," remarked Hawking, speaking with a computerized voice from his wheelchair. "I thought no one would take me, but [Virgin founder] Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic."

Virgin Galactic has been aiming to fly tourists into space for more than a decade, aboard SpaceShipTwo. The flight plan calls for SpaceShipTwo to be lifted to 50,000 feet aboard a carrier ship, called WhiteKnightTwo, before being released. SpaceShipTwo will then rocket into suborbital space, long enough for tourists to experience five minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.

Technical difficulties and a fatal test flight in October 2014 have pushed the first tourist launch date of Virgin Galactic forward indefinitely. Virgin resumed test flights in 2016 and has a reported wait list of 700 people waiting for their chance to experience space. A ticket is reported to cost $250,000.

Hawking has a condition called ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Popularly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, the condition causes the death of neurons that control voluntary muscles. Hawking was diagnosed in 1963 and was initially expected to live only two years. Four decades later, however, he remains an active physicist.

(Seeker)

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