Day 11: Flight day 2

The first half of the team has already been on yesterday's flight, so we could look forward to experiencing all the great things they told us about. Of course we could also benefit from their operating experience and try to improve the experiment. As our experiment is technically very simple and we didn't have any complications yesterday we were very confident.

It was a strangely emotional moment to say "goodbye" to our teammates before boarding the aircraft. Greetings, hugs, pictures taken and the doors were shut. Everything went fine so far, medication taken, been to toilet one last time because there is not one on board, we were ready.

After take off we had around forty-five minutes to get prepared. Roger and I switched on the computer and started the software. During the whole flight the experiment and the subjects (us) worked perfectly.

Everyone wanted to go to the cockpit and to float freely as often as possible, so the orange flight attendants and the other staff had a hard time parenting us. Being in weightlessness could be addictive! I can't imagine being without weightlessness for the rest of my life!

Right after the landing all the experiments were unloaded and everyone was busy in filling in forms, giving interviews, analysing data or getting ready for departure. I hope that the whole group manages to do something together this evening, as it would be very nice to celebrate this unique adventure together.

Team 1044 - MicrogravitiX

Yesterday, the other two members of our team, Jean-Baptiste and Fernando, achieved some surprising results. Now we have to confirm them. We want to ascertain the importance of the gravity in the movement of plasma in two High Intensity Discharge lamps. That’s why we measure the spectrum of thin horizontal slices of the lamps at 0, 1 and 2g.

We had a bad start today: the bus was half an hour late, and so the flight delayed. We eventually took off at 10:00. After a few last-minute modifications and headed towards the Mediterranean Sea, our back-up flight zone. My teammate, Zakariae el-Marzouki, was anxious: he had felt a bit sick during the familiarisation flight.

As soon as we are allowed to, we stand up and start our experiment: we check the vent line and power the lamp, the laptop and the spectrometer. Then we have to wait for the first parabola. Zakariae is in charge of the experiment – we'll swap duties halfway through. This way I can enjoy myself free floating for half the parabolas.

The dreaded 2g phase comes at last. Blood rushes down. I feel an increasing weight on my shoulders. Then –“Injection!”- I’m freed. Really freed. Only those who have already experienced the feeling can understand. I float in mid-air, with only a strap to prevent me from going further. My limbs are weightless. Is this what it feels like for astronauts?

Then the “pull out” comes and I drop heavily to the ground at 2g. It was really too short! But another one is coming.

So during the first part of the flight, Zakariae registers the measurements while I mess about: going into the cockpit (an 8000 foot dive is impressive) and in the free-flight zone, playing Spiderman or practicing space kung-fu…

Then we have a problem: during the fourteenth parabola, our lamp turns off unexpectedly. We call the safety crew and open the box, yet we don’t find any damage. We resume the experiment during the fifteenth parabola with the other lamp, as planned.

A few parabolas later it happens again and we understand why: our emergency stop button was too sensitive. A slight shock is enough. Our lamps, once switched off, have to cool for five minutes before starting again... In all we've lost six parabolas.

During the second part of the flight, Zakariae gets some rest while I have to be more serious: I’m in charge of the experiment. It’s definitely less fun to work while others enjoy…

Finally, at 14:00 we land. We have 600 more spectra to analyse. It will take some time. We'll give you news.

Team 1079 – Faraday wave surfers

Today was the second experiment flight. Everyone was excited, we wanted to feel weightlessness again, but we all felt a little sad because it was the last day and the last opportunity.

Although everybody was anxious due to the delay, the flight went very well. Almost every team reached its goal for their experiment, but I’ve no doubt that everyone without exception had one of the best times of their lives.

Our experiment went pretty well, as expected, and we are really happy with the first results, now we need some time and patience to produce some good results.

We all have worked very hard to get here and now it’s time to relax and enjoy the last hours here in Bordeaux before we have to go home and start working, again, in the data analyses.

We want to thank our ground support team: Francisco Carpinteiro, Julie Berendt, Luis Fernandes and our supervisor Pedro Oliveira.

Team 1032 – Bubble GUM

Yesterday evening Wojciech and Adam finished preparations for the second flight. There were still some things to do to improve the experiment. Late in the evening they were creating the soap films while Agnieszka and Lukasz were preparing themselves to operate the experiment in weightlessness.

Early in the morning the whole team woke up and went to the airport. There was little time for preparing the experiment to fly again, but still Wojciech and Adam found enough time to run the experiment even on the ground. Not long after that the door of the plane closed, and both Agnieszka and Lukasz started their flight.

The plane took off at 10:00 and went over Mediterranean Sea. When the first parabola started, it turned out that the changes in the set-up were good and the results were better than the day before. At the time they were running the experiment, they had also very good time free flying and greatly enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness.

After landing the experiment was taken off the plane. The campaign on board Airbus 'Zero-G' is over, but now it is time to get to work with the data recorded during the flight.