Credit: Novespace / L Theillet
On Thursday 28 September 2023, 35 adolescents embarked on the first zero gravity flight from Luxembourg.
The winners of the "Astronaut for a Day" competition, organised by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), in collaboration with Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of Education, Children and of Youth and the Ministry of Sport, had the opportunity to take a parabolic flight, in the company of Economy Minister Franz Fayot, from Luxembourg Airport - the final stage of the competition.
Parabolic flights create a situation of weightlessness for about 20 seconds. During such flights, also called "zero gravity" flights, pilots perform a manoeuvre several times during which the state of weightlessness is recreated on board. For this first parabolic flight from Luxembourg, operated with an Airbus A310 by the company Novespace, three types of parabolas were carried out: one with Martian gravity, two with lunar gravity and twelve in zero gravity.
At the end of the flight, which lasted approximately two hours, the participants, including Minister Fayot, were welcomed on the airport tarmac by Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the Minister of Sport, Georges Engel, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, and LSA CEO Marc Serres. The young people later shared their impressions during a "welcome back" lunch with their parents and teachers at the airport.
Announced on 1 July 2023, the competition winners are 35 young people aged between thirteen and nineteen attending school in Luxembourg. They were selected from 221 candidates after several tests. At the end of the competition, 30 of them were designated "full astronauts for a day" and five others were named "reserve astronauts".
The selected adolescents will also serve as "space ambassadors" throughout the 2023/2024 school year. They will be invited to participate in events and activities allowing them to discover the sector and promote it within their communities. For example, they will visit the astronaut training centre in Cologne, Germany in November 2023.
After thanking all the partners and the LSA teams involved in the project, LSA CEO Marc Serres stated: "We were delighted to see the great motivation of the young people to participate in the competition, but also the mobilisation of all families to allow their children to live their passion. And for those who missed this first opportunity: see you in 2025!"
After sharing his personal impressions of the flight, Minister Fayot said: "Today, I was able to realise a childhood dream; I have always been passionate about space. This flight was a wonderful opportunity for young people who will, I hope, be even more motivated to engage in scientific or technical studies and a career in the space sector."
(L-R) Georges Engel, Luxembourg's Minister of Sport; Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg; Franz Fayot, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy (Credit: MECO)
