TEDxDelft, being in Space

Being in space is an unmatched experience for a human being. To witness the deep blackness of the cosmos, the tiny sheet of air surrounding our Earth and of course, the constant weigthlessness. 

Below is a timelapse series of photos which gives Earthlings just a glimpse of the view from an altitude of 340 km, where the International Space Station resides, and circles the Earth every 90 minutes. No borders between countries can be seen, just a fragile and amazing planet.

The weightlessness experience is more difficult to convey when it comes to a longer duration than just one or two seconds in amusement parks. 9.3 seconds of weightlessness can be gained with the ZARM drop tower in Bremen, although not for humans because of the large accelerations involved at the beginning and end of the microgravity status. Fortunately, there is the alternative of parabolic flights, for example with the Airbus 300 from Novespace, which could provide a microgravity duration of about 25 seconds, something I was very priviliged to experience myself just a few months ago.

A famous TED talk (see below) was delivered by X Prize founder Peter Diamandis about how he helped worldfamous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking fulfill his dream of going to space -- by flying together into the upper atmosphere and experiencing weightlessness at zero g.

TEDxDelft speaker Lodewijk van den Berg experienced the real thing for 168 hours long, back in 1985, during his memorable flight on Space Shuttle Challenger. On the 7th of November he will share his experience of being in Space with the audience at the TU Delft Aula congress centre during the TEDxDelft event. Make sure not to miss this unique event, register for TEDxDelft here!