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	Courtesy Photo New Market resident Pamela Pennington floats during a weightless flight. A middle school science teacher, she was chosen for the flight by the Northrop Grumman Foundation.

Pennington, a New Market resident, teaches seventh-grade science at Rocky Hill Middle School in Montgomery County.

Last Friday, she was one of 29 teachers to go on a weightless flight offered by the Northrop Grumman Foundation.

"I can't tell you how exciting it was to be on that flight and experience zero gravity," Pennington said.

The flight, on a G-Force One aircraft, produces low- and zero-gravity environments by flying in arcs between the altitudes of 24,000 and 32,000 feet.

The flights include about 15 arcs with gravity environments like those on the moon and on Mars, as well as weightlessness. During the climbs, teachers experienced the feeling of being about twice their weight, and weightlessness during the drops.

The Northrop Grumman Foundation offers the flights as a way to inspire teachers, and by extension their students, to pursue interests in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, said company spokesman Tom Henson.

"In reaching teachers, we're reaching people who in turn reach thousands of students," he said.

The teachers brought along experiments they developed with their students to complete on the plane ride.

One of Pennington's experiments was taping the school mascot on a scale, showing the effects of different gravity environments.

In addition to discussing the flight with her students, Pennington said she and another teacher plan to start a STEM club to encourage students to pursue careers in the sciences.

Pennington didn't find science fun through elementary, middle and high school. It wasn't until she had an inspiring professor in college that she really enjoyed it.

"If you can turn kids on and make it fun, kids want to learn about it," Pennington said.

One reason she wants to start the club is because the U.S. is falling behind other countries in the number of people it is training to be engineers, mathematicians and other science-related professionals.

She wants the students in the club to make short videos about the experience of zero gravity and the underlying physics of force.

She also hopes her story will teach students that if they have a dream, they should dream big, she said.

Pennington found out about the weightless flight through the county's human resources office.

The foundation selects teachers primarily through how they will use the experience to inspire students in math and science.

During her flight, Pennington tried maneuvering around.

She described it as like being underwater, without being able to push against the water to propel yourself.

The first arc, Pennington didn't get turned around fast enough and ended up falling from the ceiling onto her head.

"I hope it wasn't caught on video," she joked.

After that, she made sure to put her feet down before the plane changed gravity.

"It was a very weird experience," she said. "You can move, but it's in a very subtle way."