German Paraplegic Engineer Becomes First Wheelchair User on Blue Origin Suborbital Flight

Michaela Benthaus, a 33-year-old paraplegic aerospace engineer from Germany, became the first wheelchair user to travel on a suborbital flight when she rode Blue Origin’s New Shepard from West Texas on Saturday. The fully automated capsule launched at 8:15 a.m. local time and the roughly 10-minute mission reached about a 65-mile climb, giving passengers several minutes of weightlessness.

In a video released by Blue Origin after the flight, Ms. Benthaus said “it was the coolest experience ever” and that she laughed and tried to turn upside down during the weightless period. She told viewers, “I think you should never give up on your dreams,” and said her 2018 spinal cord injury had made her aware of how inaccessible the world can be for people with disabilities.

Ms. Benthaus was joined on the flight by Hans Koenigsmann, a retired SpaceX executive. She said she contacted Mr. Koenigsmann to ask if someone in her situation could become an astronaut; he helped organize and sponsor her trip, along with Blue Origin. The company does not disclose ticket prices, the report said, though a comparable Virgin Galactic experience costs about $600,000.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard program has flown previously, and the flight was described as the 16th human flight for the vehicle; the program has previously flown 92 people, including repeat astronauts, above what is known as the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space at about 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) above Earth.

Key Topics

Tech, Michaela Benthaus, Blue Origin, New Shepard, Hans Koenigsmann, West Texas