In a space-age milestone, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched a wheelchair-using engineer and handicap advocate to the edge of space Saturday, a 10-minute trip that allowed her to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness more than 65 miles above Earth.
Michaela Benthaus, a German aerospace engineer who suffered a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain biking accident, joined a retired SpaceX manager and four entrepreneurs for the up-and-down flight to a point just above the so-called "boundary" of space.
"It was the coolest experience!" she said after landing, joking about turning upside down in weightlessness. "I didn't only like the view and the microgravity, but I also liked the going up. That was so cool, every stage of going up."
German aerospace engineer and handicap advocate Michaela Benthaus greets well wishers and Blue Origin support personnel moments after being carried from the New Shepard spacecraft.
Blue Origin webcast
Benthaus was assisted during training and inside the Blue Origin capsule by Hans Koenigsmann, a former SpaceX manager and engineer who was instrumental in the development of that company's workhorse Falcon family of rockets.
A fellow German by birth and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Koenigsmann helped arrange Benthaus' flight after meeting her last year.
"I met Hans the first time online," Benthaus said in a Blue Origin interview. "I just asked him, like, you know, you worked for so long for SpaceX, do you think that people like me can be astronauts?
"Then he reached out to Blue Origin and told me oh, Blue actually is very excited about it. Okay, I have my doubts on it, but let's see. Thankfully it turned out we can do it. So Hans and me (ended) up flying as a team," Benthaus continued.
Koenigsmann said Benthaus "basically inspired me to do this. It's her drive that kind of convinced me I should do that, too, and to just experience something that I've seen from the outside for a long time."
The New Shepard spacecraft blasts off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site.
Blue Origin webcast
Benthaus was able to make her own way from her wheelchair into the New Shepard capsule before launch, scooting along a bench extending from the hatch that was provided by Blue Origin. Koenigsmann was strapped in nearby to offer assistance during the flight if needed.
Running two days late because of last-minute technical issues, the countdown ticked smoothly to zero Saturday and the New Shepard blasted off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch pad at 9:15 a.m. EST.
Accelerating straight up into a mostly clear sky, the capsule's single-stage booster reached a velocity of nearly three times the speed of sound before its hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine shut down about two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.
At that point, the New Shepard capsule was released to continue coasting upward on its own, and the crew, now weightless, was free to briefly unstrap and float about the cabin.
Benthaus' legs were strapped together to keep them in place, but she, too, was free to enjoy the thrill of weightlessness as the New Shepard coasted up to a peak altitude of slightly more than 65 miles, well above the 62-mile-high point where aerodynamic forces no longer have any effect.
At that altitude, the "sky" is deep black and Earth's horizon is sharply curved. Passengers are able to take in the view through the largest windows ever flown in space.
"Oh, my God," one passenger could be heard exclaiming over the capsule's radio.
"Incredible," another said.
Falling back into the lower atmosphere, the crew was warned to get back in their seats to strap in before the onset of atmospheric deceleration. Maximum deceleration subjects New Shepard crews to about five times the normal pull of gravity.
The booster, meanwhile, followed a similar trajectory, falling tail first back toward the launch site. Nearing the ground, the BE-3 engine re-ignited, landing legs deployed and the rocket settled to an on-target touchdown on a concrete pad near the launch gantry.
The reusable New Shepard booster executed an on-target landing after propelling the New Shepard capsule out of the lower atmosphere.
Blue Origin webcast
The New Shepard came down under three large parachutes, landing in a cloud of dust near the booster and its launch pad. Blue Origin support personnel quickly reached the spacecraft to help the crew exit.
The New Shepard capsule touched down about 10-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.
Blue Origin webcase
Joining Benthaus and Koenigsmann aboard the New Shepard were physicist-investor Joey Hyde, entrepreneur Neal Milch, adventurer Jason Stansell and Adonis Pouroulis, a South African entrepreneur and mining engineer.
All six waved, smiling broadly as they climbed out of the capsule one at a time. Benthaus was last out, carried from the spacecraft by Koenigsmann and a member of Blue Origin's recovery team to a nearby wheelchair.
"You should never give up on your dreams, right?," she said after landing. "I just feel very lucky, and I'm very grateful to Blue and Hans and everyone who said yes to this journey."
Blue Origin does not publicly disclose the cost of a New Shepard seat, but the price is thought to be upwards of $500,000 each. How Benthaus' seat was financed was not revealed.
The Blue Origin NS-37 passengers, posing for a photo on the launch pad gantry. Left to right: Joey Hyde, Adonis Pouroulis, Hans Koenigsmann, Michaela Benthaus, Jason Stansell and Neal Milch.
Blue Origin
Saturday's launch marked Blue Origin's 16th New Shepard flight with passengers aboard since Bezos, his brother and two others blasted off on the first such flight in July 2021. Including Saturday's flight, Blue Origin has now launched 92 men and women to space, including six who have flown twice.
While Benthaus was the first person with a significant physical handicap to fly in space, European Space Agency astronaut John McFall, who has a prosthetic leg, has been cleared for selection to a future flight to the International Space Station.
Benthaus said before launch the reaction to her flight aboard the New Shepard was mostly positive, saying she hopes more handicapped people might make their way to space.
The big question for NASA and other space agencies and private companies is not so much whether handicapped astronauts can carry out their duties in the weightless environment of space. It's more about how they can handle an emergency that might require a speedy exit from their spacecraft, either on the ground or in space.
In an interview with CNN, Benthaus said "we're thinking more and more about long-duration space missions; some of us want to go to the Mars in the future."
"That's a very long journey. And, yes, people can get a disability on the way. People can have a stroke or break their leg or get a spinal cord injury."
In the end, she said, "people with disabilities actually bring value to a crew. ... You develop a very special resilience."
