NASA’s Zero-Gravity Turbojet, Aka ‘Vomit Comet,’ Makes Last Flight

HOUSTON (AP) — The NASA turbojet notoriously known as the “vomit comet” for its use in training astronauts for weightlessness made its final flight Friday.

NASA’s “Weightless Wonder” KC-135, a four-engine turbojet, was more commonly used by researchers to conduct experiments in zero- gravity.

Test director John Yaniac proudly told those who attended a post- flight briefing that over the years, the plane’s crew had cleaned up at least 285 gallons of vomit.

“They are there to do the research in the microgravity environment, so if it means cleaning up a little bit of vomit, then so be it, we do it,” he said. Researchers conduct their experiments as the plane climbs and dives.

Everyone aboard carries a “sick bag” in their flight suit

plastic bags are available to lock away the odor, said Donn Sickorez, who coordinates college students — including some from the University of Tulsa — who conduct experiments aboard the plane.

“It’s just not a big deal,” said Sickorez, who was ill his first time up. “The point is to enjoy it and get good scientific data and not to feel bad.”

The KC-135′s final flight lasted almost three hours and made 50 of the steep climbs and dives it used to achieve between 20 and 30 seconds of weightlessness at a time.

During the flight, researchers evaluated tile repair tools in a zero-gravity environment. Two astronauts assigned to the next shuttle mission, Steve Robinson and Soichi Noguchi, were among the roughly two dozen aboard.

NASA got two KC-135s from the military. The first — used in the movie “Apollo 13,” starring Tom Hanks — was retired in 2000 and is on permanent display at Ellington Field, not far from the Johnson Space Center.

The final KC-135 will have its usable parts sold off and be placed in permanent storage in Arizona. It will be replaced by a C- 9 aircraft next year.

Yaniac said that since the second KC-135′s first flight in 1995, more than 2,000 students and 460 college teams have conducted experiments on board.

The aircraft made its final landing at Ellington Field late Friday afternoon.

“It’s the end of an era,” Yaniac added. “It’s the closing of one door and the opening of another.”

Some traditions won’t stop, however. The first person to vomit in the C-9 will probably get “a little plaque — all in good fun of course,” Yaniac said.