Party in Zero Gravity

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

fan (2)	celebrity	astronaut
float	on board	prepare (2)
tune	publicity	the world over
weight	check-in	adventure
DJ	star (2)	weightlessness
chef	swanky	release (2)
try	narrow	condition
edible	space (2)	experiment
injury	dressing	suggestion
funny	head off	specialize
dose	train (2)	hardiness
flight	undergo	parabolic
fun	altitude	spacesuit
twice	force (2)	weigh down
lift off	last (2)	procedure
repeat	organize	roller-coaster
jump	ground	social media
shake	goal (2)	get the hang of
kick	event (2)	course (2)
honest	board (3)	throw/threw/thrown (2)
solid	amazing	adrenaline
crash	free (2)	grow/grew/grown
teary	gravity	speechless
project	sense (2)	out of this world

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 
 
 
 

Video: Party in Zero Gravity

 
 
 
 
 

Transcript

How does it feel to be an astronaut in space?

Fifty celebrity guests of the Zero-Gravity Fan Club found out at a party on board an airplane.

Musicians, artists, social media stars and athletes from the world over check-in at Frankfurt Airport for their adventure in weightlessness.

There’s DJ Swanky Tunes from Russia, DJ Soda from South Korea, soccer player Sebastian Haller from France, and German TV chef Tim Malzer.

Tim Malzer, TV Chef: “You need a release form for bodily injury.”

They all have something special they’d like to try in a weightless condition.

Tim Malzer prepares something edible.

Tim Malzer, TV Chef: “It’s just an experiment. I’ve had lots of suggestions. We’ve narrowed it down to a salad dressing.”

They head off to board the Airbus A310, which is normally used by astronauts for weightlessness training.

These passengers won’t need a spacesuit — only a healthy dose of hardiness.

They’ll be undergoing fifteen (15) parabolic flights, with twenty-two (22) seconds of weightlessness each.

At an altitude of eight-thousand, five-hundred (8,500) meters, the fun begins.

First the passengers are weighted down by twice the force of gravity. Then suddenly they lift off.

Then the whole procedure is repeated.

The plane flies a course, much like a roller-coaster.

The organizers worked with experienced astronauts for this project.

Jean-Francois Clervoy, French Astronaut: The microphone is in weightlessness when it goes from one hand to the other. If I jump like this, look, the time my feet are off the ground, it floats above my hand.

This is what we do in the aircraft.

Tim Melzer quickly gets the hang of it and shakes his salad dressing.

Sebastian Haller kicks his first goal in zero gravity.

The event organizers specialize in hearty events. The Zero Gravity Club has brought them lots of publicity. This is the second weightless party they’ve thrown.

But it only lasts about six minutes.

Afterwards, the participants are back on solid ground. But still full of adrenaline.

Dascha Polanco, Dominical American Actress: “It’s like ‘Yes, I’m Superwoman!’ And I’m also a gymnast. And I’m also crashing into people. And I’m also free.”

Tim Malzer, Television Chef: “Grown people here are saying ‘great, great, great, great, great and great!’ There were even some teary eyes.”

Vadim Shpak, Band Member, Swanky Tunes: “To be honest, it was really amazing. I’m speechless, actually.”

The sense of weightlessness was clearly an experience that was out of this world.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

1. The participants were all scientists and engineers from the United States. True or false?

2. In the video, were the people training to become NASA astronauts?

3. They had to sign an agreement. Is this right or wrong?

4. Did they have to wear a special uniform?

5. What happened inside the airplane?

6. Were they only floating or did they also do different things?

7. The participants really loved and enjoyed the experience on the airplane. It was thrilling, exciting and adventurous! Is this correct or incorrect?

 

A. Have you ever flown in a regular, passenger airplane before? Was it exciting?

B. My friends and I want to fly in the zero-gravity airplane, like in the video. Yes or no?

C. Do you and your friends want to become astronauts?

D. Would you like to be a space tourist to space, the moon, Mars or beyond?

E. What will happen in the future?