Sadly, I can’t find a story which details his reactions post-flight.
I watched the story on the news. He was grinning like a maniac.
(Excuse me for a minute, I need to head out to the hospital–this heart’s all melted and I need a new one…)
He says it was amazing .
That’s neat! Reminds me of Heinlein’s novella “Waldo,” in which a man with a debilitating neurological condition (myasthenia gravis) chooses to live in a weightless habitat in space.
:: snif ::
:: wipes tear from eye ::
I wish I’d seen it. Maybe I can find it on youtube.
I wonder if the experience will rejigger his thought processes so that he spits out all kinds of new theories.
Oh, and given that he’s the only other person to hold Newton’s chair at the university, this is sort of like sending Newton up there, if you think about it.
I thought the same thing from just the title. It would be kind of cool if they could find a way and an excuse for him to live on the International Space Station for a while.
No video, but http://images.spaceref.com/news/2007/Hawking_SharperImage1.jpg
Jim
Given that Sir Richard Branson’s basically told Hawking that he can fly on VirginGalactic gratis, and that they’re aiming for orbital flights some time around the end of the decade, and that Bigelow’s planning on putting up a spacestation, I think something like that might just happen, if Hawking can hang on.
The BBC has some photos and a video. I can’t play videos at work, so I’m just going to have to guess that the video has to do with his trip and not some other person’s.
He does look so happy. Makes me glad he was able to do it. 
I really hope someday that he gets the chance to actually go into space ,I’ll bet it would mean more to him then all the respect from other scientists for his scientific genius.
Huh? 
Do you mean the Lucasian professorship? Newton was the second guy to hold that, and it’s been held continuously since.
Or did you mean, like, Newton’s actual chair, cos that’d be pretty cool. 
Even though he probably used more than one in his life.
Dunno, I can’t remember where I read/heard that, but IIRC it was a plot point on the last episode of ST:TNG with Data being the only person to hold it since Hawking.
Oh ok, I saw that. Yeah they were talking about the Lucasian professorship there. I suppose it’s entirely possible that no one will have it between Hawking and Data, I’m trying hard to think of scenarios in which that would come about!
Possibly if TPTB at Cambridge are all Trek fans they might arrange it 
.
It also reminds me of the character Hadden in Carl Sagan’s Contact.
I caught the news on CNN. Inspiring.