(Northrop Grumman Foundation: Los Angeles) -- The Northrop Grumman Foundation has announced this year’s Weightless Flights of Discovery “Class of 2011.” Thirty math and science teachers from California and Nevada have been selected to participate in this year’s teacher development program. The selected teachers will participate in a unique initiative that places them on micro-gravity flights to test Newton’s Laws of Motion and in turn energizes their students in the formative middle school years. The flight will take place in Long Beach, California, on Sept. 26, 2011.

The Northrop Grumman Foundation is partnering with the Zero Gravity Corp. to offer the Weightless Flights of Discovery program, one of several initiatives the foundation sponsors to promote education and stimulate student interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

“Our foundation’s mission is to develop unique, sustainable programs that work on a national and grass-roots level to inspire interest in STEM subjects, and the Weightless Flights of Discovery initiative is one of many that we undertake to follow through on that commitment,” says Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation.

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