London, April 26: Prof. Stephen Hawking is to escape the confines of his wheelchair and experience weightlessness on a zero gravity flight.

The world’s best-known scientist is set to go into space in what astronauts call the “vomit comet” — a flight which renders people temporarily weightless.

He will be the first person with a disability to fly on one of the flights offered by Zero Gravity Corp., a space tourism company. “I have wanted to fly in space all of my life,” Hawking said in an interview on Tuesday.

Flying from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the modified jet creates the experience of microgravity during 25-second plunges over the Atlantic Ocean.

The jet’s interior is padded to protect the weightless fliers and equipped with cameras to record their adventure. Normally, the plane conducts 10 to 15 plunges for its passengers who pay $3,750 (£1,734) for the ride, although that fee has been waived for Hawking.

After the jet has reached its proper altitude, Hawking’s assistants will lift him out of his chair and lay him on his back in the front of the cabin for the first plunge. He will not have his wheelchair and talking computer on the jet with him, although his assistant will bring a laptop and a card with the letters of the alphabet in case Hawking wants to communicate beyond facial expressions.