The feeling of weightlessness only lasts for 22 seconds but for thrill-seekers with some change to spare, the experience is well worth the hefty ticket price.

Space research company Novespace launched its first ever zero gravity flight for civilians in Europe, costing just over 5,000 pounds to reserve a space.

The excited group ducked and dived through the skies in the aircraft, experiencing the feeling of weightlessness normally only enjoyed by astronauts.

Zero gravity flights for paying customers have already taken place in the United States and Russia, but this was Europe's first.

Indeed, the experience has proved so popular that the company has sold every boarding card for similar flights scheduled for later this year and in 2014.

The "parabolic flights" follow a carefully sequenced flight pattern involving a series of ascents and descents with short moments of "freefall".

During these manoeuvres, those on the aircraft experience up to 22 seconds of reduced gravity or weightlessness.

The sensation is created when the gravitational force acting on the aircraft by pulling it towards earth is cancelled out by centrifugal force.

The flights are most often used to perform a range of tests on astronauts and equipment to be used in space travel.

Space explorers can undergo biomedical testing or equipment can be tested in conditions most similar to those experienced outside of the earth's orbit.