Running on treadmill during parabolic flight

The performance of a lower limb prostheses has been evaluated in microgravity conditions for the first time during the latest ESA parabolic flight campaign on the ‘Zero G’ aircraft. 

European Space Agency astronaut reserve John McFall tested his prosthetic hardware in microgravity by squatting, walking and running on a treadmill. The team checked the performance of the prosthetic hardware in repeated periods of microgravity during over 90 parabolas across 3 flights.

The 86th ESA parabolic flight campaign took off on 21 May 2025 from Bordeaux, France. Parabolic flights create short windows of microgravity by flying an aircraft in a curved trajectory called a parabola. During each of the 31 parabolas per flight, John and the team experienced 22 seconds of weightlessness, simulating the conditions on the International Space Station.