Sunday, July 8, 2012

Peter Diamandis is going where I want to go!

Haven't posted in a while.  Of course these days no one reads this blog as either do I.

Regardless felt compelled to post this up as it really had an impact on me.

Peter Diamandis is interviewed in Wired magazine.  This man has become my hero!  Just the tone and approach.  He is the first person to voice my opinion in a mainstream way about the future in a long time.  I ran out and bought his book Abundance and it too had an impact on me.  Motivating stuff to see others who are optimistic about the potential for the future.

NOTE:  Photo from Wired Magazine article.  Photo taken by Nigal Perry

Best quote ever in a Wired interview below:

" I was like, fuck that. We’re going to give this world-famous expert in gravity the opportunity to experience zero gravity!" - Peter Diamandis


In context below:

Greenwald: How does experiencing weightlessness drive space exploration?
Diamandis: Two forces have opened most frontiers: tourism and resources. People go for the experience or for the gold, spices, and tobacco. I had tried to get on NASA’s zero-g plane and couldn’t. I thought there must be a market for this, so in May 1993 I partnered with NASA engineer Ray Cronise and Byron Lichtenberg, a friend who had flown two Space Shuttle missions, and we raised $500,000. We walked into Federal Aviation Administration’s office and pitched the idea. They said the regulations wouldn’t allow an airplane to do parabolic flight and with passengers whose seat belts were unstrapped. I said that’s bullshit. I proceeded on an 11-year effort to get permission from the Federal Aviation Administration. We finally became operational in October 2004, and today we’ve flown 300 flights for 12,000 customers, most famously Stephen Hawking.


Greenwald: You unstrapped Stephen Hawking’s seat belt in zero gravity?
Diamandis: He told me, “One of my dreams is to fly into space.” I said I couldn’t fly him into space, but I could fly him into zero gravity. On the spot he said yes. The next day I put out a press release announcing our intention to fly Stephen Hawking. I got two calls that day. One was from our aircraft partner, who said, “Are you crazy? We’re going to kill the guy!” The other was from the FAA saying, “You’re only licensed to fly able-bodied people.” I was like, fuck that. We’re going to give this world-famous expert in gravity the opportunity to experience zero gravity! It took six months to line up the approvals.

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