weightlessness
weightlessness The condition in which a mass possesses no weight, as in the absence of gravitational or accelerative forces, or when the vector sum of opposing forces or fields acting upon it is zero. The state is produced during space flight when the accelerative force due to gravity is exactly balanced by the tangential and inertial forces associated with the motion of the spacecraft through space.
Weightlessness — or microgravity, as it is frequently termed — has major effects on the movement of man in space and upon his physiology. The condition can be produced for only very short periods of time on earth. It exists during the initial stages of free fall through the atmosphere and can be generated for 12–40 second during parabolic flight in an aircraft.
See flying; G and G-suits; space travel.
Weightlessness — or microgravity, as it is frequently termed — has major effects on the movement of man in space and upon his physiology. The condition can be produced for only very short periods of time on earth. It exists during the initial stages of free fall through the atmosphere and can be generated for 12–40 second during parabolic flight in an aircraft.
John Ernsting
See flying; G and G-suits; space travel.
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weightlessness