German engineer becomes first wheelchair user to travel to space
Michaela Benthaus, a spinal cord injury survivor and European Space Agency employee, reaches the edge of space on a Blue Origin suborbital flight organized with help from a retired SpaceX manager.
A German engineer has become the world's first wheelchair user to travel to space, completing a roughly 10-minute suborbital flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket from Texas. Michaela Benthaus reached a point just above the Kármán line, the widely used boundary that marks the edge of space.
Benthaus, who sustained a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident seven years ago, works at the European Space Agency and has long pursued the possibility of becoming an astronaut despite her disability. After reaching out online to Hans Koenigsmann, the retired SpaceX manager who helped organize the trip, the mission was arranged with the help of several private-sector partners. Ground support equipment was added to assist Benthaus as she moved from her wheelchair into the capsule, and Koenigsmann was positioned nearby to provide assistance if needed.
"It was the coolest experience!" Benthaus said after landing in a video released by Blue Origin. "I didn't only like the view and the micro-gravity, but I also liked going up. That was so cool, every stage of going up."
Koenigsmann, who accompanied Benthaus on the planning work, said the collaboration grew out of her initiative. "It's her drive that kind of convinced me to do that, too, and to just experience something that I've seen from the outside for a long time," he said.
Blue Origin described the mission as particularly meaningful. Phil Joyce, senior vice-president of New Shepard, said the company was proud to help Benthaus achieve her dream and emphasized the broader goal of making space accessible to a wider range of people.
The mission marked the 16th suborbital space tourism flight for Blue Origin. The company has taken dozens of tourists to space in recent years as private firms compete for leadership in space tourism. The flight came amid renewed attention on the role of private space companies in expanding access to space and the ongoing debate over the costs and benefits of commercial spaceflight.
In context, the launch follows other high-profile missions by Blue Origin, including a flight in April that carried pop star Katy Perry, Bezos's fiancée Lauren Sánchez and CBS presenter Gayle King among six women aboard a flight that lasted about 11 minutes. The company has not disclosed the price of Benthaus's mission.