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Each jolt of adventure lasted just 25 seconds, but renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking loosened the bonds of gravity -- and a paralyzing illness -- Thursday and joined a pioneering corps of private citizen/astronauts.
Hawking floated high above the Kennedy Space Center and Atlantic Ocean aboard a jetliner modified to withstand steep plunges and deliver quick bursts of weightlessness and wonderment.
The Peter Pan-like experience, intended to delight him and publicize a private firm, also demonstrated the growing allure and potential of space tourism -- orbital, suborbital and pseudo-orbital flights for super-adventurous regular folk.
''The allure is to do something that throughout history only very, very, very few people have been able to do,'' said former astronaut Winston Scott, a South Florida native. ``Something that is exciting, something that is beyond the realm of imagination for most people.''
Though now reserved for NASA-trained astronauts, Russian cosmonauts and the mega-wealthy, spaceflight is beginning to glide within reach of others.
''I want to demonstrate to the public that anybody can participate in this type of weightless experience,'' Hawking, 65, who suffers from the debilitating illness ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, said during a news conference.
Well, anyone can participate after paying $3,675 (including tax) for a flight like Hawking's aboard a plane operated by Zero Gravity Corp., which has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Cape Canaveral and Las Vegas.
Or $200,000 for an eventual hop along the edge of space.
Or $25 million for a 13-day visit to the International Space Station.
Pricey, to be sure, but truly an out-of-this-world experience. Just ask Charles Simonyi, the latest of five gazillionaires who paid between $20 million and $25 million for a berth aboard the space station and a unique view of the home planet.
''If anything, it has made me more optimistic,'' Simonyi wrote in a Web posting from space before his return Saturday. ``Far from looking small, fragile and polluted, from our orbit, the Earth appears majestic and calm, with pure colors.''
And the more pedestrian 25-second interludes of weightlessness enjoyed by Hawking and about 2,700 other people since 2004?
''It's an amazing experience,'' said Peter Diamondis, Zero Gravity's chairman. ``It is unlike anything you have ever felt. It is a very blissful. Fun. It's like flying in your dreams.''
Hawking, an author and mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge, is famous for his work on black holes and the origin of the universe. Because of his illness, he is unable to move his hands and legs, and can speak only through a computer's synthesized voice.
Nevertheless, riding in a Boeing 727 equipped with pads to absorb inadvertent encounters with the inside of the fuselage, he, his doctors and others enjoyed eight parabolic plunges that produced a phenomenon called microgravity and weightlessness.
Hawking said he seized the opportunity not just for the fun of it but also because he is a strong proponent of private spaceflight.
Zero Gravity is the only government-approved provider of weightless flight to the general public. It operates planes from the Kennedy Space Center, Las Vegas, the New York City area and Long Beach, Calif.
Other firms, however, are aiming even higher -- even as NASA keeps struggling with the trouble-prone space shuttle and its eventual successor.
Among them:
• Space Adventures Limited, which works with the Russian space agency to book flights aboard Soyuz spacecraft to the space station. All five private visitors to the station have arranged the trips through Space Adventures.
• Virgin Galactic, run by British airline mogul Richard Branson. It plans to carry passengers on relatively brief suborbital flights on ships modeled on SpaceShipOne, the rocket plane that won a $10 million prize in 2004 by taking a human into space twice within two weeks. The firm hopes to serve private passengers by 2009, charging about $200,000 per person, but it already has endured delays.
• Interorbital Systems, which also expects to begin operations in 2009 but plans full, 90-minute orbits of the planet. The cost: $2 million, but you can buy a special promotional fare for $250,000 -- and it will be refunded, the company says, two years after your flight.
In essence, that becomes a loan and it illustrates the financial, technological, legal and regulatory obstacles confronting spaceflight entrepreneurs and those who would buy tickets.
Still, as Hawking demonstrated Thursday, a start is under way and almost certainly will lead to a higher place.
''It is no longer just the government and just a select group of a hundred astronauts who can can participate in these activities,'' Diamondis said.
Said Scott, the former astronaut: ``What you see here with Zero-G and space tourism is just the fundamental step of what's going to be a lucrative spaceflight tourism business out in the future. I think it is exciting.''
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