Blue Origin’s NS-37 May Make History — Could Send First Wheelchair User to Space

Blue Origin’s NS-37 Aims To Expand Space Accessibility

Blue Origin is preparing the NS-37 suborbital mission, a flight that will carry six passengers to the edge of space and back. No official launch date has been announced, but the flight has drawn attention because one of the passengers, Michaela “Michi” Benthaus, could become the first wheelchair user to travel to space.

From Mountain Biking Accident to Microgravity Advocate

Benthaus sustained a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain biking accident and has used a wheelchair since then. A passionate advocate for inclusive spaceflight, she participated in an AstroAccess parabolic flight in 2022 and has since completed 18 parabolas while taking part in pioneering accessibility experiments designed to test how people with different physical abilities can anchor, maneuver and secure themselves in microgravity.

Professional Affiliations

She is affiliated with the TUM School of Engineering and Design in Munich and is currently a young graduate trainee at the European Space Agency (ESA), bringing both academic and practical experience to the accessibility work.

AstroAccess: Paving The Way

AstroAccess, a program launched by SciAccess, Inc. in 2021, focuses on promoting disability inclusion in human space exploration. Working with the Zero Gravity Corporation, AstroAccess has completed five microgravity missions that carried disabled scientists, veterans, students, athletes and artists to test accessibility concepts on parabolic flights — an early step toward sending a more diverse range of people to space.

"If we can make space accessible, we can make any space accessible," reads the project’s guiding message.

Why This Flight Matters

Former NASA official Alan Ladwig, author of See You in Orbit? Our Dream Of Spaceflight, described the planned flight as "a historical flight." Ladwig recounted how attitudes at NASA once made the idea of flying people with disabilities controversial — citing debates in the mid-1980s about emergency egress and the sidelining of related studies after the Challenger accident in 1986.

"...safely flying a civilian was controversial, much less a person with a disability," Ladwig said, reflecting on how far perspectives have changed.

Ladwig noted positive progress: ESA’s 2022 astronaut class included John McFall, a former Paralympic athlete, as part of a Parastronaut Feasibility Project. That study, completed in 2024, concluded it would be feasible to integrate a person with a disability on the International Space Station, though concrete plans to do so have not been announced.

Looking Ahead

Whether or not Benthaus becomes the first wheelchair user in space, the NS-37 mission is a highly visible step in a longer process to broaden access to space. Demonstrations on parabolic flights, research by organizations like AstroAccess, and feasibility studies by major agencies are all contributing to practical changes that could make future missions more inclusive.

Note: Blue Origin has not announced an official launch date for NS-37.