You can't use an
airplane to simulate one-sixth gravity.
It is well established that you can use an airplane to simulate
zero gravity by nosing over in parabolic flight path. The motion
picture Apollo 13 demonstrated that such a process could be
used for accurately simulating the absence of gravity for purposes of
fiction.
It can also be used to simulate one-sixth gravity by flying in a
slightly shallower climb. The Apollo astronauts trained this way [Reports11b, 76].
The "vomit comet" was
used to stage the zero-gravity segments of the Apollo missions, just
as it was for the motion picture Apollo 13.
The video from the command module during the coast phases of the
voyage was broadcast seamlessly, with no breaks or "cuts" from one
camera to another. That's because there was, in fact, only one
camera. The parabolic flight path method only works for about 30
seconds at a time. It would have been quite impossible to use this
method to produce a seamless video presentation lasting several
minutes. But it works fine for producing a Hollywood feature film
where a "take" only lasts a few seconds anyway. And this footage could
be intercut with scenes filmed on the ground using more conventional
stagecraft methods for simulating weightlessness.
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