Does NASA have anti-gravity chambers to train astronauts and conduct experiments?
In short, the answer is, “No.” However, read on… NASA uses a variety of facilities to create or simulate microgravity conditions: The most “famous” way is by aircraft flying in parabolic arcs to create microgravity for tests and simulations. NASA JSC has the KC-135 → (“Vomit Comet”). It makes several trips each year to NASA Glenn in support of ground-based microgravity research. It was also used to shoot the weightless scenes in the movie “Apollo 13.” The facilities most-likely to be misconstrued as “anti-gravity chambers,” are drop towers. Specifically, NASA Glenn has the “Zero Gravity Research Facility →.” It is a large, evacuated shaft some 500 feet deep that allows test packages to free fall for just over 5 seconds. In this state of free fall, weightlessness (at or near microgravity, 1×10-6 g) can be obtained. NASA Glenn also has a 2.2 second drop tower →. For more information on all of these and other microgravity facilities, visit the NASA Glenn Microgravity Science Division’s
