Zero Gravity Corporation

Peter H. Diamandis, former shuttle payload specialist Byron K. Lichtenberg and former NASA engineer Ray Cronise founded the company to bring weightless-flight experiences to the public. Its retrospective describes roughly 11 years of aircraft modification, testing and regulatory work before the public service launch.⁠[4]

The company launched public commercial weightless flights in 2004 using a modified Boeing 727-200. NASA’s subsequent audit also places the start of its commercial microgravity operations in 2004, several years after the business was founded.⁠[4][3]

The company’s official history dates permission to use Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility to April 2006. The location connected its public experience to a working space center; the aircraft itself remained an atmospheric-flight platform.⁠[4]

Stephen Hawking flew aboard G-Force One with medical support, experiencing eight weightless parabolas lasting about 20–25 seconds each before returning to Kennedy Space Center. He linked the experience to wider participation in space exploration. Contemporary reporting also described approximately $150,000 raised for four charities through eight auctioned seats.⁠[5]

Space Adventures announced in March that it had increased its Zero-G stake to 100% effective January 1. The announcement retained Diamandis as the operating unit’s CEO and Lichtenberg as CTO.⁠[6]

NASA awarded Zero-G a one-year, $4.8 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with four option years. Exercising every option would bring the ceiling to approximately $26 million through 2012. Contract flights began in August 2008. The ceiling was not actual expenditure: the audit records about $1.94 million in 2008–2009 disbursements for flights, insurance and fuel adjustments.⁠[3]

NASA’s inspector general found that parabolas meeting contractual gravity-quality and duration requirements ranged from about 38% to 84% across nine flight weeks in August 2008–August 2009. Aircraft changes and pilot training improved performance to 84% in August 2009, when 83% of surveyed researchers rated the service good or excellent. The audit recommended stronger payment incentives and contingency planning. NASA accepted the recommendations’ intent, including repricing a successor contract. About $23,000 overpaid because of NASA calculation errors was recovered through a subsequent payment adjustment.⁠[3]

Amerijet operated and maintained the aircraft under a 2006 agreement; Zero-G purchased it in 2011. Amerijet’s 2014 termination led to litigation over engines, maintenance records, manuals and unpaid charges. Zero-G pursued an arrangement with Everts Air Cargo, but readiness, audit and contracting problems disrupted its planned NASA flight weeks that summer.⁠[7]

The Southern District of Texas found maintenance failures and incomplete delivery of records. It awarded Zero-G $1.167 million, offset by $165,174.25 owed to Amerijet, for a net $1,002,117.33. It rejected the alleged interference with NASA and claimed profits from the unperformed flight weeks. The docket later records an October 2018 release-of-judgment notice and dismissal of an appeal at the appellant’s request.⁠[7][8]

The company’s 2025 annual filing says Matt Gohd became CEO in December 2019 during financial distress. This account of the business’s condition is management’s disclosure.⁠[9]

Astro Access and Zero-G flew from Long Beach, California with 12 participants with mobility, vision or hearing disabilities. Across 15 parabolas, they tested visual and haptic cues, accessible flight suits and cabin-orientation designs to inform accessibility in future spacecraft.⁠[10]

Astro Access’s AA2 mission flew from Ellington Airport in Houston with 14 disabled crew members from five countries and completed 18 parabolas. Demonstrations examined tactile cabin graphics, independent seat entry and harness fastening, personalized hearing assistance, and American Sign Language intelligibility in weightlessness.⁠[11]

The company’s filing says Matt Gohd returned as interim CEO in August 2023 and helped recruit its subsequent leadership.⁠[9]

The filing dates Kevin Sproge’s appointment as CEO to January 1, 2024 and Matt Gohd’s appointment as executive chairman to August 15 that year.⁠[9]

The 2025 Form C-AR reports approximately $280,426 raised under Regulation CF on September 13, 2024 and $3.675 million from an early 2024 private offering. Its attached 2024 Zero-Gravity Corporation profit-and-loss statement reports about $10.296 million in income, including $6.552 million in research-flight revenue, and a net loss of about $4.051 million. These are company-reported historical figures.⁠[9]

The filing’s issuer, Nevada corporation Zero-Gravity Holdings, Inc., was incorporated on March 27, 1998 under the name Space Adventures, Ltd. That legal-entity date differs from the operating business’s 1993 origin. The report identifies research, charter and consumer flights as its main business lines, and a second aircraft, maintenance continuity and working capital as funding needs.⁠[9]

Zero-G announced a $13 million contract supporting the US Space Force’s Azimuth program, scheduling 11 parabolic flights in 2025 with options in the following three years. The undergraduate program prepares prospective Space Force officers through space education, experiments and training. The announcement establishes planned contractual activity, not completion of all 11 flights.⁠[12]

The company reported 11 research flights across 20 days in Salina, Kansas during its spring campaign, supporting 87 payloads and more than 280 researchers. Topics included cryogenics, robotics, laser welding, life support and regolith impacts. Two flights were dedicated to lunar-gravity research. The campaign totals and completion status are company-reported.⁠[13]

In its July 20, 2026 update, Zero-G said its sole operating aircraft, G-Force One, suffered extensive damage during a routine check at a third-party maintenance facility in July 2025, suspending flights thereafter. It described expert assessment and pursuit of legal and insurance remedies. Its account of the damage does not establish legal liability.⁠[14]

The Middle District of Alabama docket records Zero Gravity Corporation’s suit against Commercial Jet Services, LLC, case 1:2025cv00682, filed on August 22. The available record includes an October 2025 amended complaint. The older docket snapshot establishes proceedings, not the defendant’s liability.⁠[15]

Zero-G separately sued Starr Indemnity & Liability Insurance, doing business as Starr Aviation, in the Middle District of Alabama, case 2:2026cv00557. The docket classifies it as an insurance dispute. The August 26, 2026 snapshot includes service of process but no merits decision.⁠[16]

A notice signed by CEO Kevin Sproge says the company is evaluating replacement aircraft and raising capital. It gives no firm restart date and expects no return before mid-2027, while expressing an intention to honor existing commitments once operations resume. Checked in October 2026, the team page still lists Sproge as CEO and the suspension notice remains the direct statement of operational status.⁠[14][17]

Controlled climbs and descents provide roughly 20–30 seconds of weightlessness per parabola; different trajectories can also produce lunar or Martian partial-gravity conditions. Researchers use these intervals for hardware validation, materials and life-science experiments, and crew training. Parabola counts, gravity targets and usable durations vary by mission, so cumulative reduced-gravity time is not one uninterrupted interval.⁠[3]

The official website is https://www.gozerog.com/ (opens in a new window), with operational notices at its /updates page. It links to https://www.linkedin.com/company/zero-gravity (opens in a new window). The legacy YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel https://www.youtube.com/@GoZeroG (opens in a new window) identifies the company and links back to its website. Historical promotional material does not supersede the current suspension notice.⁠[1][2][18]