![]() "That would be the ultimate dream and the ultimate goal. Might she like to return to zero gravity, this time for real, in outer space? She's now an intern at GE Aviation and plans to get a doctorate in aerospace engineering. Who" and "Star Wars." She twice interned at Kennedy Space Center during her time at Robert E. She's 21, a Jacksonville native who grew up a fan of "Dr. Turns out the scientists liked the idea, Partridge said. Everyone from the Inspiration4 crew to Richard Branson has taken a trip on a Zero-G plane to prep for weightlessness in space. UNF ended up paying for the trip, which involved a couple of days of training and a nerve-racking appearance before NASA scientists to explain their project. In Houston, other schools were surprised, Partridge said, that the Ospreys got accepted on their first application. To get a ride on the Weightless Wonder - known informally as the Vomit Comet, though that was a not a problem on Partridge's flight - NASA accepts proposals from universities for projects that involve reduced gravity. That would help nurture bone cell cultures they hope to grow inside a small space satellite. On the NASA plane, the students had serious things in mind, namely a science experiment to see how a low fluid flow would react in zero gravity. Humans say out in space as if it’s there and we’re here, as if Earth is separate from the rest of the universe. In fact, you’re technically in space right now. That's an undergraduate research group that's looking at the effect of space travel on bone density. About 8,000 miles (12,800 kilometers) below your feet on the opposite side of Earth lurks the unforgiving vacuum and radiation of outer space. Partridge, a mechanical engineering major going into her senior year, is team leader of the Orbital Ospreys. "The things you do here on Earth and don't think twice about, in zero gravity it changes everything," she said. Partridge cracked an egg, the motion of which sent her flying backward for several yards. They were there to conduct a scientific experiment. She found that out last month as one of eight University of North Florida students who went to Houston for the ultimate field trip - going weightless inside a NASA plane that simulates the effect of zero gravity. In zero gravity, it's actually like that." It's like when you're a kid and you dream you're Superman and can fly. And the experience, she says, is just as amazing as it sounds. Chelsea Partridge knows what it's like to be free of the grip of gravity.
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