MERIGNAC (France), Sept 27: French surgeons performed the first zero-gravity operation on Wednesday aboard a plane free-falling to create weightless conditions in what they hope can be a trial run for surgery on astronauts in space.

Dominique Martin, head of Bordeaux university hospital’s plastic surgery unit, removed a fatty cyst from the forearm of volunteer patient Philippe Sanchot.

“It happened in accordance with our expectations. Today we performed a feasibility test. We weren’t seeking to achieve a technical exploit,” Mr Martin told a news conference at an airport near the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

The operation lasted around 11 minutes and was performed in 32 sequences, during which an Airbus (EAD.PA) 300 Zero G aircraft flew in arcs putting it into free fall and creating weightless conditions for 22 seconds each time.

In a specially-developed operating theatre, measuring two metres by two metres, surgical instruments were held in place by powerful magnets and the surgeons by harnesses.

“If we had had two hours of continuous weightlessness, we could have operated on an appendicitis,” Mr Martin said.

The facility, developed with the help of a leading elevator manufacturer, is intended to be installed in the International Space Station or in a future base on the moon, Martin said.—Reuters