How do you say Vomit Comet in Russian?
Pero Novak, president and founder of Air Technical Industries (SBN August 1998), and his son, Vida, recently returned from the Russian Space Agency training center, where they learned firsthand how astronauts learn to move in zero gravity.
The term Vomit Comet was coined at NASA because many first-time fliers lose their lunch after riding in the stripped down commercial liner, which leapfrogs through the air. The plane makes periodic dives to simulate the weightlessness experienced by astronauts on the space shuttle or the International Space Station.
“Zero gravity is one of the most unique and exciting experiences I have had,” Novak says. “The initial rush when you realize your feet are suddenly over your head, touching the ceiling, and you’re flying free and weightless, is exhilarating.”
Novak earned the opportunity after working on several NASA projects. Among them, ATI modified a piece of equipment — a self-propelled floor crane — to be used to help put together the school bus-sized ISS modules.
Novak is no stranger to flight. The native Croatian is a commercial pilot, multi-engine and instrument rated, and has been flying for four decades. But this kind of travel was new to him.
“When the floor disappears from underneath you, this strange feeling of disorientation makes you want to grab onto something solid,” he says.
Daniel G. Jacobs
