Saturday December 20, 2025, above the Texan desert, a white capsule briefly carried six tourists towards weightlessness. Among them was a 33-year-old German engineer, who became paraplegic following an accident. For Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin, this launch of the New Shepard rocket looks like one more mission. In the world of disability, the event is already presented as a turning point for the accessibility of space.
This passenger, Michaela Benthaus, is the first person in a wheelchair in space. The aerospace engineer took off from west Texas shortly after 8:15 a.m. aboard New Shepard’s automated capsule, alongside five other tourists. In about ten minutes, the flight passed the Karman line, at an altitude of 100 kilometers, before landing in the Texan desert, slowed by parachutes. A very short but highly symbolic scenario for the accessibility of spaceflight.
A Blue Origin rocket for a historic wheelchair flight
During the ascending phase, the small rocket rises vertically before the pressurized capsule separates from the launcher. The passengers were then able to float for a few moments in weightlessness and observe the curvature of the Earth. The cabin then descended, slowed by parachutes, to land in the Texan desert.
The entire system is fully automated, with no pilot on board. New Shepard has been carrying out this type of suborbital flight for several years and has already taken more than 80 people to the edge of space, including celebrities like Katy Perry and actor William Shatner.
Michaela Benthaus, a paraplegic engineer facing a world that is still inaccessible
Having become paraplegic following an accident, the German aerospace engineer has not left the space sector. “After my accident, I really realized how inaccessible our world still is“, she testified in a video published by the company.
Blue Origin adapted its procedures for this flight, with a transfer board between the wheelchair and the seat and reinforced assistance on the launch tower. After landing, Michaela Benthaus said: “if we want to be an inclusive society, we must be inclusive in all areas, not just where it suits us“. His message circulated on social networks and was taken up by associations of disabled people.
A strong signal for inclusion in access to space
The new boss of NASA, Jared Isaacman, welcomed this first in a message published on X for the German passenger: “you just inspired millions of people“, he assured. This official comment gives this private flight a symbolic significance well beyond just Blue Origin customers.
The experience of Michaela Benthaus, the first passenger in a wheelchair to cross the frontier of space, will serve as a benchmark to measure the extent to which these commercial flights will, in the future, be able to integrate more travelers with disabilities.