14 DAY TRIAL // Kate Upton, Sports Illustrated and the Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) have just taken modeling to new heights, when the world-famous model posed for a photo shoot in true weightlessness. She and a photo crew took a flight aboard a ZERO-G modified Boeing-727 aircraft, carrying out the shoot in microgravity.
The aircraft, known as G-FORCE ONE, is similar to the reduced gravity aircraft NASA uses to accustom its astronauts to living in space. Upton rode in it on March 18, 2013, but the images are being released only now, for the 50th swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
A total of 17 parabolas were carried out with the aircraft, 13 of which emulated zero gravity, while four replicated lunar gravity. During each of them, the crew snapped photos of a free-floating Kate Upton, glitter and everything included.
“The ZERO-G experience was really exhilarating for everyone involved. We have been almost everywhere in the past 50 years with SI Swimsuit, but we have never done anything like this. It was certainly the most out-of-the-box shoot. Once again, Kate surprised us all with how she handled modeling in weightlessness,” said the editor of the SI swimsuit issue, MJ Day.