Defying gravity

Members of ESA’s astronaut reserve got a taste of weightlessness aboard the special Airbus ‘Zero G’ A310 aircraft. Among the group are Sara García Alonso, Meganne Christian, John McFall, Andrea Patassa, Carmen Possnig, Arnaud Prost, Amelie Schoenenwald, Aleš Svoboda and Nicola Winter. They were supported by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and a team of experienced instructors during several parabolic flights in Bordeaux, France.

Parabolic flight campaigns recreate the 'weightless’ conditions similar to those experienced in space and are often used to run science experiments, validate space instruments and train astronauts before spaceflight.

Over the course of three days, ESA’s astronaut reserve group flew through 30 parabolas per flight, each providing up to 22 seconds of microgravity. In total, they experienced around 10 minutes of weightlessness during each flight.

The first flight served as a discovery and familiarisation session. Here, the focus was on learning to move efficiently and safely in microgravity. The second and third flights, conducted under slightly different conditions, trained two subgroups of members of the reserve in typical Space Station crew tasks. Each participant rotated through various activities, including transporting equipment, moving along the cabin using their feet to interact with Space Station-style handrails. They also performed basic spacewalking, or Extravehicular Activity (EVA), tasks such as working with safety tethers while transporting a tool bag and ingressing or egressing exercises on the Portable Foot Restraint platform which is used during sensitive EVA operations.

During this campaign, members of the astronaut reserve also had the opportunity to take part in a few scientific experiments that were being tested onboard by participating research teams.

A special highlight of the second flight was the testing of new prosthetic foot interfaces by John McFall, part of ESA’s ‘Fly! Mission Ready’ initiative. These prototypes are designed to interface with Space Station handrails, enabling smooth translation and stabilisation in weightlessness.

From left to right in the photo: Carmen Possnig, Alexander Karl (EUROCOM and Crew Support Office), Alexander Gerst, Sara García Alonso, Arnaud Prost, Hervé Stevenin (Head of EVA and Parabolic Flight Training Unit at ESA), Aleš Svoboda, Andrea Patassa, Amelie Schoenenwald.