Blue Origin has announced the crew for its next suborbital flight, NS-37 — and this launch will make history. For the first time in world practice, a person who uses a wheelchair will travel to space: Michaela Benthaus, an engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA), will cross the Kármán line, the symbolic boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space at an altitude of 100 km.
Benthaus, who sustained a serious spinal cord injury after an accident in 2018, has continued active work in science, taking part in ESA projects, research missions and training. In 2022, she experienced weightlessness on a special flight, and in 2024 she took part in an analogue space mission. Now she will become the first wheelchair user to have been in space.
The launch of NS-37, originally planned for December 18, was postponed because of a technical issue. The new launch will take place no earlier than December 20, 2025.
Along with Michaela, five more participants will go on the flight. Although suborbital New Shepard flights last only about 10–12 minutes, they show that space is not only the prerogative of professional astronauts, but also a place for people with different life experiences and physical characteristics.
