The 33-year-old engineer was accompanied by four private sector businesspeople and a former SpaceX manager on the spacewalk. They said they briefly experienced microgravity, or weightlessness.
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German aerospace engineer Mikhaila Benthaus has become the first wheelchair user to travel to space. She reached space on a sub-orbital rocket called New Shepard, launched from Texas on December 20 by American billionaire Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin.
In a journey of about 10 minutes, she crossed the international boundary of space called the ‘Kármán Line’.
‘It was an amazing experience, I think we should never give up on our dreams,’ Mikhaila said after landing in the desert of West Texas using a parachute and retro-thrust system. ‘Sometimes dreams come true even in the face of low odds.’
The 33-year-old engineer was accompanied by four private sector entrepreneurs and a former SpaceX manager on the space trip. They said they experienced microgravity, or weightlessness, for a while.
Mikhaila is an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA). She was wheelchair-bound after a mountain bike accident when she was 26 and suffered a spinal cord injury. “What I realized after the accident is that our world is still not accessible to people with disabilities,” she said in a video for Blue Origin. “If we want an inclusive society, space must be open to everyone.”
International media has noted that Mikhaila’s journey is not only a personal achievement, but also a major step towards including people with disabilities in space tourism and research. Previously, physical ability was measured for space travel. Her journey is expected to make future space missions more diverse and inclusive.
In space tourism activities, Blue Origin has previously taken pop singer Katy Perry, actor William Sattner, and others into space. It is trying to compete with Elon Musk’s Space X.
