Vomit Comet facts
While investigating facts about Vomit Comet, I found out little known, but curios details like:
In the 50's NASA recruited Deaf people to research why they didn't get motion sickness. Tests included flights in 'Vomit Comet' and sailing in the rough seas (researchers got violently sick, while Deaf people just played cards happily).
Ron Howard was so impressed with the zero-G effect of the "vomit comet" while preparing for Apollo 13 that he elected to film many of the weightless scenes in one. As the zero-G effect lasts less than 30 seconds, it took 162 trips to film everything they needed.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 8 of the best facts about Vomit Comet I managed to collect.
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No special effects were used to achieve zero gravity in the movie "Apollo 13". Through 612 flight parabolic, approximately 4 hours was spent filming on board NASA's "Vomit Comet" The KC-135, an aircraft designed to train astronauts for the weightlessness of space.
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Production for Apollo 13 leased NASA's "Vomit Comet" KC-135A for 6 months and built actual sets on board for filming. So most if not all scenes in space depecting weightlessness are in fact weightless.
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Apollo 13 was mostly filmed in Zero-G in a Vomit Comet
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In testing micro gravity the US Air Force took cats on Parabolic flights (The Vomit Comet) to study how they dealt with weightlessness
