This Saturday, German aerospace engineer Michaela Benthaus took her dream trip aboard a rocket, which took her to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere — where she left her wheelchair behind as she floated and observed our planet.

In a 10-minute flight on a Blue Origin rocket, the astronaut Michaela Benthausfrom Germany, reached 105 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, becoming the first astronaut to reach space in a wheelchair.

Seriously injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, the ESA engineer and five other passengers took to the air on Saturday, on a mission launched from Texas by the aerospace company of Jeff Bezoswhich exceeded the call linha de Kármánconsidered the limit of spaceat 100 km altitude.

Accompanying the German aerospace engineer, she was traveling Hans Koenigsmanna former SpaceX executive, also born in Germany, who helped organize the mission and who, together with Blue Origin, sponsored the trip. Ticket prices were not disclosed.

Visibly happy, Benthaus said that he laughed throughout the climb and that, once in space, he tried to turn around. “It was the most incredible experience“, he said shortly after landing.

The 10-minute suborbital flight required only minor adjustments to accommodate Benthaus, “because the New Shepard autonomous capsule was designed with accessibility in mind, making it more accessible to a wider range of people than traditional space flights,” he explained. Jake Millsa Blue Origin engineer who trained the crew and supported them on launch day.

Among the previous space tourists at Blue Origin there are people with reduced mobility and visual or hearing limitationsas well as two 90-year-old passengers.

According to , to take Benthaus to Space, Blue Origin installed a transfer board which allowed him to slip between the capsule’s hatch and his seat. At the launch site, there was already an elevator to climb the seven floors to the capsule, installed on top of the rocket.

Benthaus, 33, is part of the European Space Agency’s postgraduate internship program in the Netherlands and had already experienced brief moments of weightlessness on a parabolic flight from Houston in 2022. Shortly thereafter, he participated in a two-week simulated space mission in Poland.

“I never really thought that doing a spaceflight was a real option for me, because even for a super healthy person it’s so competitiveright?”, said the woman before the flight.

The accident that left Benthaus paraplegic 7 years ago destroyed any hope that the German engineer might still have of making her dream trip. “There is no history of people with disabilities flying into space“, he stated.

When Koenigsmann approached her last year with the possibility of flying on Blue Origin and trying out more than three minutes of weightlessness on a “lightning trip” to space, Benthaus thought it was a misunderstanding. It wasn’t — and Benthaus immediately accepted it.

Blue Origin’s private mission There was no involvement from ESAwhich this year gave the green light to the alternate astronaut John McFall, single leg amputeefor a future flight to the International Space Station. The former British Paralympian lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident when he was a teenager.

Benthaus’ spinal cord injury means the German engineer is unable to walk, unlike McFall, who uses a prosthetic and could, in an emergency, exit a space capsule alone after landing.

Upon returning to Earth, Koenigsmann, designated as Benthaus’ backup in case of emergency, helped Benthaus out of the capsule and down the few steps that separated it from the ground. “You should never give up on your dreams, right??”, said the German.

With this flight, Blue Origin increased the number of people to 86 that has already been transported to space. Created in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune is valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, the private aerospace company carried out its first space flight with passengers in 2021.

In April, the presenter Lauren Sanchezthe billionaire’s fiancee, and four other women, on a sub-orbital flight with an exclusively female crew.

This Saturday, German aerospace engineer Michaela Benthaus took her dream trip aboard a rocket, which took her to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere — where she left her wheelchair behind as she floated and observed our planet.

In a 10-minute flight on a Blue Origin rocket, the astronaut Michaela Benthausfrom Germany, reached 105 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, becoming the first astronaut to reach space in a wheelchair.

Seriously injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, the ESA engineer and five other passengers took to the air on Saturday, on a mission launched from Texas by the aerospace company of Jeff Bezoswhich exceeded the call linha de Kármánconsidered the limit of spaceat 100 km altitude.

Accompanying the German aerospace engineer, she was traveling Hans Koenigsmanna former SpaceX executive, also born in Germany, who helped organize the mission and who, together with Blue Origin, sponsored the trip. Ticket prices were not disclosed.

Visibly happy, Benthaus said that he laughed throughout the climb and that, once in space, he tried to turn around. “It was the most incredible experience“, he said shortly after landing.

The 10-minute suborbital flight required only minor adjustments to accommodate Benthaus, “because the New Shepard autonomous capsule was designed with accessibility in mind, making it more accessible to a wider range of people than traditional space flights,” he explained. Jake Millsa Blue Origin engineer who trained the crew and supported them on launch day.

Among the previous space tourists at Blue Origin there are people with reduced mobility and visual or hearing limitationsas well as two 90-year-old passengers.

According to , to take Benthaus to Space, Blue Origin installed a transfer board which allowed him to slip between the capsule’s hatch and his seat. At the launch site, there was already an elevator to climb the seven floors to the capsule, installed on top of the rocket.

Benthaus, 33, is part of the European Space Agency’s postgraduate internship program in the Netherlands and had already experienced brief moments of weightlessness on a parabolic flight from Houston in 2022. Shortly thereafter, he participated in a two-week simulated space mission in Poland.

“I never really thought that doing a spaceflight was a real option for me, because even for a super healthy person it’s so competitiveright?”, said the woman before the flight.

The accident that left Benthaus paraplegic 7 years ago destroyed any hope that the German engineer might still have of making her dream trip. “There is no history of people with disabilities flying into space“, he stated.

When Koenigsmann approached her last year with the possibility of flying on Blue Origin and trying out more than three minutes of weightlessness on a “lightning trip” to space, Benthaus thought it was a misunderstanding. It wasn’t — and Benthaus immediately accepted it.

Blue Origin’s private mission There was no involvement from ESAwhich this year gave the green light to the alternate astronaut John McFall, single leg amputeefor a future flight to the International Space Station. The former British Paralympian lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident when he was a teenager.

Benthaus’ spinal cord injury means the German engineer is unable to walk, unlike McFall, who uses a prosthetic and could, in an emergency, exit a space capsule alone after landing.

Upon returning to Earth, Koenigsmann, designated as Benthaus’ backup in case of emergency, helped Benthaus out of the capsule and down the few steps that separated it from the ground. “You should never give up on your dreams, right??”, said the German.

With this flight, Blue Origin increased the number of people to 86 that has already been transported to space. Created in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose fortune is valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, the private aerospace company carried out its first space flight with passengers in 2021.

In April, the presenter Lauren Sanchezthe billionaire’s fiancee, and four other women, on a sub-orbital flight with an exclusively female crew.