German aerospace engineer Michaela (Michi) Benthaus has used a wheelchair ever since 2018, when a mountain biking accident led to a life-changing spinal cord injury. Today, she’s a trailblazer for accessibility in human spaceflight , and she’s about to go where no wheelchair user has gone before.

Blue Origin is gearing up to launch Benthaus and five other civilian astronauts to suborbital space aboard New Shepherd’s 37th flight, making her the first person with paraplegia to travel beyond Earth. She will be accompanied by aerospace engineer and former SpaceX employee Hans Koenigsmann, investor Joey Hyde, entrepreneur Neal Milch, investor Adonis Pouroulis, and self-proclaimed “space nerd” Jason Stansell.

New Shepherd flights last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to landing and allow th

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