Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sent a disabled engineer and disability advocate to the edge of space on Saturday, a 10-minute journey 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 mountain biking accident in 2018, joined a former SpaceX manager and four entrepreneurs on a flight up and down to a point just above the so-called “edge” of space.
“It was the coolest experience!” she said after landing, joking about turning upside down in zero gravity. “Not only did I love the view and the microgravity, but I also loved the climb. It was so great, every step of the climb.”
German aerospace engineer and disability advocate Michaela Benthaus greets well-wishers and Blue Origin support staff moments after being carried off the New Shepard spacecraft. / Credit: Blue Origin webcast
During training and inside the Blue Origin capsule, Benthaus was assisted by Hans Koenigsmann, a former SpaceX manager and engineer who was instrumental in developing the company's Falcon family of rockets.
German by birth and a naturalized U.S. citizen, Koenigsmann helped organize Benthause's flight after meeting her last year.
“I first met Hans online,” Benthause told Blue Origin. “I just asked him, like, you worked at SpaceX for so long, do you think people like me can be astronauts?
“Then he reached out to Blue Origin and told me, ‘Oh, Blue is actually really excited about this. Okay, I have my doubts about this, but let's see. Fortunately, it turns out that we can do this. So Hans and I (eventually) flew as a team,” Benthaus continued.
Koenigsmann said Benthause “essentially inspired me to do this. It was her drive that convinced me that I should do it too and just experience what I had seen from the outside for a long time.”
The New Shepard spacecraft launched from Blue Origin in West Texas. / Credit: Blue Origin webcast
Before launch, Benthouse was able to maneuver herself from a wheelchair into the New Shepard capsule by walking along a bench extending from a hatch provided by Blue Origin. Koenigsmann was strapped in nearby to provide assistance during the flight if necessary.
Late by two days due to last-minute technical problems, the countdown smoothly reached zero on Saturday and New Shepard lifted off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch pad at 9:15 a.m. EST.
Accelerating straight into nearly clear skies, the capsule's single-stage booster reached nearly three times the speed of sound before its BE-3 hydrogen engine stalled about two and a half minutes after liftoff.
At this point, the New Shepard capsule was released and continued upward on its own, and the crew, now weightless, were able to briefly unfasten their seatbelts and float around the cabin.
Benthause's legs were tied together to keep them in place, but she, too, was free to enjoy the sensation of weightlessness as New Shepard rose to its maximum altitude of just over 65 miles, well above the 62-mile mark where aerodynamic forces no longer operate.
At this altitude, the “sky” is pitch black and the Earth's horizon is sharply curved. Passengers can admire the view through the largest windows ever flown into space.
“Oh my God,” one passenger was heard to exclaim over the capsule's radio.
“Unbelievable,” said another.
Upon returning to the lower atmosphere, the crew was warned to return to their seats and buckle up before atmospheric braking began. Maximum deceleration exposes New Shepard crews to about five times normal gravity.
Meanwhile, the launch vehicle followed a similar trajectory, falling tail-first back toward the launch site. Approaching the ground, the BE-3 engine ignited again, the landing legs deployed, and the missile landed on its target on a concrete pad near the launch portal.
The New Shepard reusable launch vehicle landed on its target after lifting the New Shepard capsule out of the lower atmosphere. / Credit: Blue Origin webcast
New Shepard descended under three large parachutes and landed in a cloud of dust near the launch vehicle and its launch pad. Blue Origin support staff quickly reached the spacecraft to help the crew exit.
The New Shepard capsule landed approximately 10 and a half minutes after liftoff. / Credit: Blue Origin Web Case
Benthaus and Koenigsmann were joined aboard New Shepard by physicist-investor Joey Hyde, entrepreneur Neil Milch, adventurer Jason Stansell and Adonis Pouroulis, a South African entrepreneur and mining engineer.
All six of them waved their hands, smiling widely as they climbed out of the capsule one by one. Benthaus was the last to emerge, being carried from the spacecraft by Koenigsmann and a member of the Blue Origin recovery team into a nearby wheelchair.
“You should never give up on your dreams, right?” – she said after landing. “I’m just very lucky and I’m very grateful to Blue, Hans and everyone who said yes to this journey.”
Blue Origin does not publicly disclose the cost of the New Shepard seats, but the price is expected to exceed $500,000 each. How Benthause's place was financed is not reported.
Blue Origin NS-37 passengers pose for a photograph on the launch pad portal. From left to right: Joey Hyde, Adonis Pouroulis, Hans Koenigsmann, Michaela Benthaus, Jason Stansell and Neil Milch. / Credit: Blue Origin
Saturday's launch marked Blue Origin New Shepard's 16th flight with passengers on board since Bezos, his brother and two others took off on the plane. first such flight in July 2021. Including Saturday's flight, Blue Origin has already sent 92 men and women into space, including six who have flown twice.
Although Benthause was the first person with a significant disability to fly in space, European Space Agency astronaut John McFall, who has a prosthetic leg, was cleared for selection for a future flight to the International Space Station.
Before the launch, Benthause said the response to her flight aboard New Shepard had been mostly positive, and she hoped more people with disabilities could get into space.
The big question for NASA, other space agencies and private companies is not so much whether disabled astronauts can perform their duties in the weightlessness of space. It's more about how they can handle an emergency that might require a quick exit from the spacecraft, either on the ground or in space.
In an interview with CNN, Benthause said: “We're thinking more and more about long-duration space missions; some of us want to go to Mars in the future.”
“It's a very long way. And yes, people can get disabled along the way. People can have a stroke, break a leg or have a spinal cord injury.”
After all, she says, “people with disabilities actually bring value to the team…You develop a special kind of resilience.”
John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois broke up after the last broadcast of the CBS Evening News.
Trump administration official says only part of Epstein files will be released today
Suspect in Brown University shooting and murder of MIT professor found dead after mass manhunt
