First wheelchair user reaches space
German engineer, the first wheelchair user to fly on a suborbital space mission, participated in a flight by the American company Blue Origin, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports, citing Space News.
European Space Agency engineer Michaela Benthaus joined Blue Origin’s suborbital mission aboard the New Shepard spacecraft. The launch took place on Saturday, December 20, and the flight lasted about 11 minutes.
Benthaus sustained her injury in 2018 after a bike accident and has used a wheelchair ever since. After landing, she described the flight as the most remarkable experience of her life and emphasized that one should never give up on a dream, even when the odds seem slim.
Experts note, however, that New Shepard flights are suborbital and do not qualify as full orbital missions.
In contrast, SpaceX, in partnership with Axiom Space, conducts tourist trips to the International Space Station. In July, the fourth commercial mission of this kind concluded successfully, with passengers spending over two weeks aboard the ISS.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency took a closer look at how much space journeys cost, what they include, and even how space is becoming a destination for memorials after death.
