You’re Such a Lightweight, Hawking…

AS THE world’s most famous astrophysicist, he knows more about what goes on among the stars than any man alive. And last night Stephen Hawking got a taste of what it would be like to fly in space. The 65-year-old took part in a zero-gravity ride in the cabin of a modified aircraft 32,000ft above the Earth. Leaving his wheelchair behind, Professor Hawking almost totally paralysed by motor neurone disease – experienced 25-second bursts of weightlessness in the Boeing 727 flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. “It was amazing,” said Professor Hawking, who plans to go into space when Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flights launch in 2009. “The zero-g bit was wonderful – I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come.” The rides usually cost Pounds 2,758, but the fee was waived for Hawking.

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