NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The information in this document was accurate as of the original publication date.

Audience: Educators
Grades: 8-12


In the Weightless Wonder -- Reduced-Gravity Flight problem students learned about the parabolic maneuver that NASA pilots perform to achieve microgravity during free-fall. The students used a quadratic function to analyze the parabolic flight path of the C-9 jet. In this extension of that problem, students use a graphing calculator to find the maximum value of a quadratic function.

Extension Activity -- Weightless Wonder teacher edition [127KB PDF file]
Extension Activity -- Weightless Wonder student edition [181KB PDF file]


This problem is part of the Exploring Space Through Algebra series.
Other problems in this series include:
Next-Generation Spacecraft -- Orion
Space Shuttle Ascent
Weightless Wonder -- Reduced-Gravity Flight


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