NEARLY NO GRAVITY


Movies often show astronauts bouncing around in a zero gravity training center as they practice how to adjust to the weightlessness of space. Unfortunately for anyone who has ever dreamed of floating in a zero gravíty chamber such places don't exist. Zero gravity can't be created on Earth for long periods of time. Instead, astronauts experience weightlessness using other methods. One way is in a 35-foot deep pool of water called the Weightless Environment Training Facility. The Hubble rescue crew practiced repairing the telescope on a model in this pool. Astronauts wore training versions of their space suits. 



Something that looks like a huge air-hockey table helped them practice moving large objects in space. The astronauts were strapped into harnesses and suspended above a floor from which jets of air flowed.