Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Michaela “Michi” Benthaus is on a trajectory to become the first wheelchair user in space.
(Image credit: AstroAccess)

Blue Origin is readying its New Shepard-37 suborbital flight that will rocket six passengers to the edge of space.

One traveler onboard that mission is Michaela “Michi” Benthaus, and her voyage carries special significance. She is on a trajectory to become the first wheelchair user in space.

In 2018, Benthaus became wheelchair-bound after a mountain biking accident resulted in a spinal cord injury.

Passionate about space travel, Benthaus was selected to fly in 2022 with AstroAccess on a parabolic flight, becoming one of the first wheelchair users to test accessibility experiments in weightlessness.

For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight will break new ground for people with disabilities – at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/blue-origins-next-space-tourism-flight-will-break-new-ground-for-people-with-disabilities