A wheelchair user will reach space next week for the first time ever, if all goes according to plan.

Blue Origin announced today (Dec. 11) that it's targeting Dec. 18 for its NS-37 mission, which will send six people on a brief trip to suborbital space and back.

One of the passengers is Michaela (Michi) Benthaus, an aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency who has used a wheelchair since suffering a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain-biking accident. She is poised to break new ground for access and inclusion in human spaceflight.

NS-37 will lift off from Blue Origin's West Texas site on Dec. 18 during a window that opens at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT; 8:30 a.m. local time). The company will stream the action live, beginning about 40 minutes before launch.

As its name suggests, N

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