In West Texas, a launch tower stands ready for a mission unlike any other: the NS-37 flight of Blue Origin will take Michaela “Michi” Benthaus beyond the Kármán line, making her the first wheelchair user to travel into space. This historic step merges advanced aerospace engineering with a powerful statement on accessibility in human spaceflight.
1. Breaking the Barriers in Space Flight
Born in Germany, Benthaus is an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency; since the spinal cord injury in 2018 from a mountain biking accident, she has used a wheelchair. “I am excited to show the world that also wheelchair users can go on a suborbital flight, and I’m really happy that Blue Origin is supporting this,” she told ABC News. Her flight breaks with long-held presumptions over who can be considered an astronaut and reflects a growing movement for diversifying participation in space missions.
2. How to Get to NS-37
This happened after a meeting with German-American aerospace engineer and former SpaceX executive Hans Koenigsmann: “She said she was only thinking about a suborbital flight,” Koenigsmann remembered, realizing the possibility and calling immediately to Blue Origin, which responded very positively. They will fly together; Koenigsmann is ready to support Benthaus on this mission, if necessary.
3. Technical Details of New Shepard
New Shepard is a fully reusable, autonomous rocket-capsule system for suborbital missions. It reaches altitudes well above 62 miles – 100 kilometers, which is an internationally recognized boundary marking the edge of space. On this NS-37 mission, it will fly for 10 to 12 minutes, with a few minutes of microgravity, before the capsule descends back via parachute-assisted landing, while the booster returns to Launch Site One, landing autonomously to minimize the turnaround time and environmental impact as much as possible.
4. Accessibility Engineering
A small bench will serve as a means for Benthaus to get in and out of the capsule herself. The strap will prevent her legs from flying out of control without her being able to regain control over them during weightlessness. The company has accommodated procedures around her flight, such as improving accessibility at its facilities in preparation for her trip; it installed an elevator on the seven-story launch tower. Efforts have been aided by New Hawking – the company’s resource group, named after Stephen Hawking.
5. Crew of Six
Along with Benthaus and Koenigsmann are Joel Hyde, a physicist and retired hedge fund partner; Neal Milch, business executive and genetic research advocate; Adonis Pouroulis, mining engineer and energy entrepreneur; Jason Stansell, a computer scientist flying to remember a deceased brother. All of these passengers come from various backgrounds but have a common interest in space.
6. Advocacy & Precedents
Benthaus has been an AstroAccess ambassador since 2022, taking part in zero-gravity research flights and analog astronaut missions. Space, they say, can very well be the domain of people with disabilities, as weightlessness removes most mobility issues. In fact, previous achievements have included orbital missions by Hayley Arceneaux, who flew with a prosthetic leg, and ESA’s selection of Paralympian John McFall as the first medically cleared parastronaut.
7. The ESA Parastronaut Initiative
ESA set up the Parastronaut Feasibility Project with the aim of sending astronauts with physical disabilities on missions, studying the adaptation in spacecraft hardware and procedures. The agency contacted the Paralympic Committee to establish the definition of eligibility and is working its way up toward safety without compromising mission efficiency. Modifications can be as simple as additional handholds but require careful engineering and investment.
8. Research on Inclusive Spaceflight
AstroAccess and university teams into inclusive spaceflight has proved that persons with disabilities can work in microgravity, and problems of communication and navigation, among many others, can be easily solved by resorting to haptic, light, and all related tactile technologies. Other encouraging areas include redesigning emergency systems and making special prosthetics for space.
9. Implications for Long-Duration Missions
Inclusion means more than having a presence in spaceflight. Members of the crew leaving for missions on Mars or the Moon could become stricken with a disability at any moment along their journey-what researchers have called “incidental disability.” Being prepared for such contingencies by means of accessible design and training builds safety for everyone on board and mission resilience in conditions not foreseen. The suborbital flight of Benthaus is more than a triumph for her; it serves as a test case for the future of inclusive space exploration. “I might be the first — but have no intention of being the last,” she said. For the aerospace professional, advocate, and enthusiast alike, NS-37 sends a clear signal that from now on, the boundaries of space will no longer be dictated by altitude but by the richness of humanness it can take along.