US EditionParaplegic engineer becomes first wheelchair user to float in space
Michaela Benthaus flew over 65 miles above Earth in Blue Origin’s NS-37, demonstrating new accessibility measures in space travel for passengers with disabilities.
- On Saturday, Michaela Benthaus, 33-year-old German aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency, became the first wheelchair user past the Kármán Line aboard New Shepard NS-37 from West Texas in a 10–11 minute flight.
- After her 2018 mountain biking accident damaged her spinal cord, Benthaus turned to engineering and training, using a wheelchair and joining a simulated space mission in Poland.
- The New Shepard's flight profile reached supersonic speeds before capsule separation, and Blue Origin made minor adjustments — an elevator, patient transfer board and leg strap — enabling Benthaus to board and float.
- Support personnel reached the capsule and assisted the crew out immediately after touchdown, laying a carpet on the desert floor and carrying Benthaus to a nearby wheelchair as the six passengers waved.
- The flight positions Blue Origin as expanding access to space for nontraditional candidates, while space agencies and private companies face emergency evacuation concerns and design challenges for disabled crew members, even as ESA cleared John McFall this year.
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153 Articles
Sky News UK
Great Yorkshire RadioEngineer becomes first wheelchair user in space onboard Blue Origin flight
Michaela Benthaus, 33 and born in Germany, was severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, causing damage to her spinal cord and leaving her unable to walk.
A German female engineer, disabled by an accident, made her dream come true by soaring to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft, proving that "space belongs to everyone."
Who is Michaela Benthaus? German woman engineer scripts history; becomes 1st wheelchair user to space
Michaela Benthaus is an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency. She suffered a spinal cord injury after a mountain biking accident and now uses a wheelchair.
Wheelchair user flies into space
A German woman engineer on Saturday became the first wheelchair user to blast into space, taking a brief ride on a Blue Origin flight. The space company owned by American multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos launched its New Shepard suborbital mission at 8:15 am (1415 GMT) from its site in Texas. Michaela Benthaus, an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency, was among the passengers to cross the Karman line, the internationally …
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