Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
Last month, a German engineer became the first wheelchair user to blast into space. She took a 10-minute ride on a space company’s flight. The space company, Blue Origin, launched its New Shepard suborbital mission from its site in the US state of Texas.
Michaela Benthaus is an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency. She was among the passengers to cross the Karman line, the internationally recognised boundary of space.
Benthaus suffered a spinal cord injury after an accident. She now uses a wheelchair.
“If we want to be an inclusive society, we should be inclusive in every part,” she said in a video released by the company.
The rocket took off, and the capsule carrying the tourists detached. Then it descended back to Earth, slowed down by parachutes.
Blue Origin has been offering these space tourism flights on its New Shepard rocket for years. The price is not public.
