Stephen Hawking

[askold]

I sent an email to the nice folks at Zero G and they responded that it was not their plane that gave that cat a ride.<br /><br />So, unless there's a third outfit doing this stuff - I guess that leaves NASA.

 

[spacester]

http://www.flymig.com/zero-gravity/ <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[lampblack]

I wonder if these folks were perhaps involved? There's a mysterious reference to "Jennings the Cat" toward the bottom of the page. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[spacester]

Actually, I was going to say something to that effect - that micrograv on an airplane has been around for a long time. But I figured guys like you would have more details.<br /><br />Mainly, I just wanted to respond to askold's tentative assumption that there are no third players in the game. Note the blue jumpsuits in the video and on the Russian page I linked to. I think we have found our cat tormentors. Plus it seems nigh impossible to find a video of NASA people doing things without NASA logos all over the place.<br /><br />Thanks for including the bit about the whiskers - very interesting, and now that you mention it, that all sounds familiar. How would you like to be assigned the task of trimming the whiskers? <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[webtaz99]

A friend of mine's sister trimmed the whiskers off just one side of their cat (she was 3). The poor cat always bumped into walls and corners on his right side. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[erioladastra]

"So, unless there's a third outfit doing this stuff - I guess that leaves NASA."<br /><br />Sorry, but I can tell you that is not the inside any of NASA's vomit comets in the last 20+ years. I think you need to find another source

 

[lampblack]

ummm... did nobody take particular note of the link I provided above?<br /><br />I'd say an undergraduate zero gravity research program like the one at Perdue is a likely suspect for the cat video. (Can't you just imagine a sophomore engineering student offering up a hypothesis on the sticky qualities of cat claws compared to Velcro?)<br /><br />The pictures don't show up on the link (which apparently dates to 2004), but there is also a reference to "Jennings the Cat" near the bottom of the page. Whether it is the same cat, one does not know -- but the reference certainly caused <i>my</i> eyebrows to raise, somewhat like cat whiskers.<br /><br />How many different zero-g cats can there be out there?<br /><br />The Perdue kids take all sorts of things onto those planes. According to the web page, they have up to 50 groups doing zero-g stuff any given year.<br /><br />Of course, if they <i>were</i> the ones responsible for abusing the poor cat in the video, that'd be one less thing to lay at NASA's door. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[askold]

It does seem likely that it was those wacky Purdue kids annoying the cat. Kids today!<br /><br />But, it was a NASA plane even if it wasn't NASA's idea.

 

[bdewoody]

My thread has been hi-jacked by cats uug <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[lampblack]

oops... you're absolutely right -- and I apologize for my role in it.<br /><br />For whatever it's worth, that picture of Hawking with the apple was the coolest thing I've seen all week. It's enough to make even Isaac Newton smile. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[erioladastra]

"But, it was a NASA plane even if it wasn't NASA's idea."<br /><br />Ok, for the Nth time, read my posts. It was NOT. The inside does not match any of NASA's for the last 20+ years. I don't know why you are so certain it is. NASA doesn't just let someone take a spin on its aircraft! Now give it up.

 

[askold]

"My thread has been hi-jacked by cats .."<br /><br />Keeping these threads on topic is like herding cats. In space.

 

[frodo1008]

If askold can possibly find a way to take a cut at NASA (regardless of facts or how trivial and insignificant it is) he will do so. This has happened ever since he started on these boards, please just ignore him!!!!