A team of French doctors performed the first surgery (cyst removal) done in near zero-gravity:
The five-man medical team made history by slicing off the patient's yellow growth, which then floated away, tied to a string. Doctors worked in intervals of 22 seconds during conditions of weightlessness. Coincidentally, it took 22 intervals to complete the surgery.
The operation, more than three years in the making and part of a three-phase exploration of weightless surgery, paves the way toward one day performing surgery in space via a surgeon or a remote-controlled robot. It also is an experiment that may one day be instructive for a future medical emergency on the International Space Station.
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