In Mérignac, the Airbus “Zero G” creates weightlessness in 22 seconds

An Airbus A310 unlike any other took off on Wednesday, March 18th, with a simple and almost surreal promise: to make human bodies, pens, and drops of water float. Operated by Novespace, a subsidiary of CNES, the "Zero G" aircraft performs a series of steep climbs and descents, like a very serious adult amusement park ride.

At an altitude of approximately 7,500 meters, the device performs parabolic flights that recreate a microgravity comparable to that of the International Space Station, but in a lightning-fast version: a few tens of seconds, then the return of weight, sharp, without poetry.

Thirty-one controlled falls, and science takes to the air

Thirty-one parabolic maneuvers were on the program for this flight, with a now well-established sequence: approximately 22 seconds during which passengers float, before abruptly returning to the ground as gravity takes over. In the cabin, the effect is spectacular because it is brief, almost capricious; one goes from total weightlessness to a return to gravity in a heartbeat. Novespace presents these campaigns as the only ones organized on a large scale in the world, and the experience is not reserved for medical professionals: private individuals can board, subject to medical and supervisory requirements, for a price of €7,500.

On a daily basis, it's researchers who fill the plane, and this flight carried about thirty scientists who came to conduct physics and physiology experiments or test equipment intended for manned missions. The European Space Agency emphasizes the value of these sessions for becoming familiar with the very real effects of weightlessness: disorientation, clumsy movements, and the body having to relearn. European astronauts also undergo these experiences, like Sophie Adenot as part of her basic training, following in the footsteps of Thomas Pesquet, although, as Yannick Bailhé, an engineer at Novespace, points out, it's primarily about "discovery" and "awareness" rather than operational training—a terrestrial foretaste of a future that will unfold far beyond the clouds.