Disabled engineer flew to space for the first time
German engineer Mikaela Benthaus successfully completed a suborbital space flight despite her disability. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
The news was also reported by Deutsche Welle. It is stated that on December 20, the flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft lasted approximately 11 minutes.
At 33 years old, Benthaus made history as the first person with paralysis from the waist down to travel to space. She suffered a severe injury in a bicycle accident in 2018 and has been using a wheelchair since then.
After the flight, Mikaela Benthaus described the experience as the most unforgettable event of her life. She emphasized that people should never give up on their dreams, and even a small opportunity can be enough to achieve them.
Benthaus also added that she had been interested in space since childhood and that the film "Star Wars" inspired her. Besides Benthaus, there were five other participants in the New Shepard crew.
Among them was German aerospace engineer Hans Kyonigsmann, who worked at SpaceX until 2021.
Kyonigsmann said after the flight that the view of Earth and its atmosphere was very impressive, and space was darker than expected. This mission was the 16th piloted flight of Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company, with nearly 80 wealthy individuals participating in short-term space trips in recent years.
The price of the flight tickets has not been disclosed.
