Hawking takes zero-gravity flight

The modified Boeing 727 jet simulated the experience of weightlessness as it took plunges over the Atlantic Ocean.

"It was amazing," Prof Hawking said after the flight.

"The zero-G part was wonderful and the higher-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!" he said.

Initially, the organisers had planned to go through between one and three zero gravity sessions.

In the end eight were completed, and Prof Hawking experienced weightlessness for about four minutes.

US firm Zero Gravity normally charges a fee of $3,750 (£1,915) for its
passengers, but that fee was waived for the Cambridge physicist.

He was not given many years to live when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in the 1960s, aged 22.