Weight is over for zero-gravity surgery

A FRENCH medical team yesterday hailed as a success pioneering surgery on a man in near zero-gravity conditions on a flight looping in the air like a roller coaster to mimic weightlessness.

The five doctors and their patient landed safely at an airport in south-west France after a three-hour flight, during which the medical team performed a 10-minute surgical operation to remove a cyst from the man’s arm.

Chief surgeon Dominique Martin said the near zero-gravity operation, which was the first ever performed on a human, was not technically difficult, but was aimed at breaking a barrier in medical expertise.