Almost 20 college students along with a few journalists crowd into the briefing room at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center as part of NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities program.

We watch an unusual safety film. Instead of a demonstration of how to properly clasp the buckle of our safety belt, we view a KC-135 plane point its nose 45 degrees up in the air, arc over and then drop 10,000 feet at 45 degrees.

We will be boarding that plane. And we will be flying that flight plan. Not just once, but over 30 times. And with each "parabola" arcing through the air, we will experience almost half a minute of "weightlessness" or Zero G, alternating with double the force of gravity, Two G.

But first we will be issued flight suits and motion sickness bags. We will also be offered a drug called Scop-Dex that helps most people with the internal havoc that gives the "K-Bird" its other nickname: The Vomit Comet.

I stay close to Ed Springer, Sarah Kazukiewicz, and Shiju Nair. They are the ones who invited me to join them as they soar and plunge to test out their experiment in microgravity. These Embry Riddle Aeronautical University students have devised a switch that is activated in microgravity--they hope. Today is the big test.

The air is thick with excitement and nervous tension. Currents of enthusiasm and intense focus swirl through the air. Eight teams will be flying, with two students in each team, each with their own experiment. They spent months developing and building and tweaking their possible solutions for space life problems. They underwent physiological training. Their experiments had to pass "Test Readiness Reviews."

It all leads up to this morning. Embry Riddle's experiment is strapped aboard. Soon Ed, Shiju, Sarah and I will walk out on the tarmac, following in the footsteps of many astronauts, and board the big blue and white KC-135.

The students will have their chance to test out their ideas in an environment that provides uplifting, short bursts of the weightlessness that astronauts experience while in orbit. We'll all have a chance to test out our bodies--whether we walk on the walls, fly like an Eagle, or lose our cookies.

Soon, we will be roller coastering through the air over the Gulf of Mexico. Will the experiment work? Will the Scop-Dex? Stay tuned to see if there is a problem, Houston.