Blue Origin’s New Shepard Program Makes History By Taking First Wheelchair User To Space

Blue Origin’s New Shepard program has achieved a significant milestone by carrying the first wheelchair user to space. The NS-37 flight, which took place last month, successfully launched a diverse crew of six individuals, including Michaela “Michi” Benthaus, above the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

This mission marked a major step forward in making space travel more inclusive. New Shepard has now flown 92 people, including individuals with various abilities and disabilities. The crew represented a range of professions, including engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and —long space advocates. New Shepard’s design prioritizes accessibility, featuring an autonomous system and elevator access on the launch tower.

This enables a broader range of people to participate in space travel. The program has flown astronauts who are wheelchair users, hard of hearing, have limited mobility or limb differences, have low vision, or are legally blind. Michi Benthaus, an aerospace and mechatronics engineer with the European Space Agency, is a prominent advocate for accessibility in spaceflight.

Despite sustaining a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain biking accident, she continued her work in interplanetary exploration and scientific collaboration.