Peter Diamandis and Stephen Hawking move away from Zero G's Boeing 727 on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Peter Diamandis (left), founder of the Zero Gravity Corp., and noted physicist Stephen Hawking move away from Zero G's modified Boeing 727 on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. Hawking enjoyed his first zero gravity flight provided by Zero G. 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