Weightless Wishes Frank de Winne

ESA astronaut Frank de Winne (right) during The Kid’s Weightless Dreams campaign organised by Novespace and Rêves de Gosse that gave children with disabilities the opportunity to experience weightlessness and lunar gravity on a parabolic flight.

Eight children from five ESA member states – UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy – boarded the Zero-G Airbus A310 in Bordeaux on 24 August 2017.

In addition to experiencing weightlessness, the children were also involved in science demonstrations. These included lighting a candle, mixing liquids of different densities, playing ping-pong with bubbles of water and working a fidget spinner to demonstrate the effects of microgravity.

Joining the children were ESA astronauts from their corresponding member states who have flown in space were on board to assist and mentor the children and answer their questions, Thomas Reiter (DE), Tim Peake (GB), Frank De Winne (BE), Claudie Haigneré (FR), Jean-Francois Clervoy (FR) and Maurizio Cheli (IT).