We all live under gravity’s power with varying degrees of acceptance.  If you don’t believe it, dust off your high school yearbook, then take a long look at yourself in the mirror.  Chances are you’ll find proof positive of gravity’s relentless pull.

Rocket scientists, mystics and cosmetic surgeons have one common goal.  Whether off to the moon, levitating or nipping and tucking, success requires defying gravity.  What is it then, this force which is always working on us, but which we seldom really think about?  Simply put, gravity is the phenomenon through which all objects attract each other – a nice thing to consider around Valentine’s Day.

As any fading beauty knows, there isn’t really such a thing as escaping the effects of gravity completely.  On the Space Shuttle, it is microgravity one encounters.  You’re still falling; it’s just that everything inside the craft is falling at the same rate.  It’s kind of like strapping the bathroom scale to your feet and jumping off your roof.  For a nanosecond, that diet seems to be working.

Lest you try weightlessness as the cure for the bags and flab, consider this: on Earth gravity pulls on your blood, causing volumes to pool in the veins of your legs.  Up in space the blood shifts into your chest and head, so you get all puffy in the face, your sinuses swell and your legs become spindly-looking.  We advise sticking to the ground, and moisturizing.

Still, nothing appeals to us more than the sight of a human being who seems to break Earth’s pull.  When the great ballerina Taglioni first darned the tips of her slippers and rose up on her toes, the audience thought she was levitating.  And we still get a thrill at the sight of those daring performers on the flying trapeze.  Then there is all that skydiving and bungee jumping… evidence enough that we don’t mind falling if it feels like flying.

If you need to “slip the bonds of surly Earth,” FootageBank HD has a library of High-Definition images that will set you soaring. To view and download some gravity-defying clips, click here.