On this day in space! July 27, 1962: The 1st zero-g cosmonaut training flight took off on a Soviet jetliner

On this day in space! July 27, 1962: The 1st zero-g cosmonaut training flight took off on a Soviet jetliner

On July 27, 1962, two Russian cosmonauts boarded a Soviet airliner and experienced weightlessness without going to space. This was the first time cosmonauts completed zero-G training on an airplane. The Tupolev Tu-104 was a type of jetliner originally designed to transport 50 passengers. It was modified to accommodate cosmonauts who needed to train in an environment that simulated weightlessness. By flying in a parabolic arc, passengers could ex…