This silent NASA footage shows performance or assembly tests conducted in a weightless environment aboard a “Vomit Comet” test aircraft. The exact nature of the tests shown here are unknown.

Starting in 1957, the U.S. Air Force began to use planes to simulate weightlessness, by making roller-coaster-like maneuvers. By 1973, NASA took over the Reduced Gravity Program. NASA used many different types of aircraft for these tests, including a Convair C-131 Samaritan (this footage was likely shot aboard that plane). NASA also used two KC-135 Stratotankers were used until 2004. The parabolic zero-g maneuvers provides astronauts with about 25 seconds of weightlessness out of 65 seconds of flight in each parabola. During such training, the airplane typically flies about 40–60 parabolic maneuvers.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com