Michaela Benthaus, a German engineer, wrote the script to become the first wheelchair user to fly into space. Michaela took a short ride on a Blue Origin flight on Saturday.
Jeff Bezos’ space company launched its New Shepard suborbital mission from its location in Texas.
The small, fully automated rocket took off vertically and the capsule carrying the tourists then separated in flight before slowly descending back into the Texas desert, slowed by parachutes.
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Who is Michaela Benthaus?
Michaela Benthaus is an aeronautical and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency.
Michaela, who suffered a spinal cord injury after a mountain bike accident and now uses a wheelchair, was among the passengers who crossed the Karman Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, during the approximately 10-minute flight.
“After my accident, I really, really learned how inaccessible our world is still” to people with disabilities, she said in a video released by the company. “If we want to be an inclusive society, we should be inclusive in all parts of it, not just the parts we want to be.”
The 33-year-old, who is part of the European Space Agency’s graduate training program in the Netherlands, experienced glimpses of weightlessness during a parabolic flight from Houston in 2022.
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Less than two years later, she took part in a two-week simulated space mission in Poland.
Before the flight, she told The Associated Press that she “never really thought that spaceflight was a real possibility for her,” “because even a super healthy person is so competitive, right?”
Her accident dashed any hopes she had — “There is no history of people with disabilities going into space,” she told the AP.
An ecstatic Michaela told the AP she laughed all the way up, the capsule flew more than 65 miles (105 kilometers) and once tried to flip upside down in space.
“It was the best experience,” she said shortly after landing.
“Congratulations, Michi! You’ve just inspired millions of people to look up and imagine what’s possible,” new NASA chief Jared Isaacman said on X.
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‘Just minor edits…’: Blue Origin
Blue Origin said the flight required only minor adjustments to accommodate Michaela. According to the AP, the space company added a patient transfer plate to the New Shepard capsule so it can move between the capsule’s hatch and its seat.
Their rescue team also unrolled a carpet on the desert floor after landing, providing immediate access to her wheelchair, which she had left at takeoff.
Blue Origin’s Jake Mills, an engineer who trained and assisted the crew on launch day, said the autonomous New Shepard capsule was designed with accessibility in mind “to be more accessible to a wider range of people than traditional spaceflight.”
It was the 16th crewed flight for Blue Origin using a New Shepard rocket.
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About Blue Origin
Dozens of people have traveled to space with Blue Origin, including pop singer Katy Perry and William Shatner, who played the legendary Captain Kirk in Star Trek.
These high-profile guests help maintain public interest in flight at a time when private space companies are vying for the lead.
While Blue Origin doesn’t disclose its price for a seat on one of its tourist flights, rival company Virgin Galactic charges around $600,000 for a similar experience.
