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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility, Space Florida president Steve Kohler (left) talks to the media about physicist Stephen Hawking's (in the wheelchair) first zero-gravity flight. The flight will be aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp., a commercial company licensed to provide the public with weightless flight experiences. At right is Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero Gravity Corp. Hawking developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease in the 1960s, a type of motor neuron disease which would cost him the loss of almost all neuromuscular control. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett