An engineer from Germany became the world's first wheelchair user to go into space.
Michaela Benthause, who suffered a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident seven years ago, turned to the retired aerospace engineer online to find out if her dream of becoming an astronaut was still possible.
He then helped organize the historic 10-minute flight with Blue Origin, the space tourism company founded by Jeff Bezos.
Ms Benthause and five others took off from Texas on Saturday and reached a point just above the so-called “edge” of space, known as the Karman line.
“It was the coolest experience!” she said after being featured in a video posted by Blue Origin.
“Not only did I enjoy the view and the microgravity, but I also enjoyed going up. It was so great, every step of the climb.”
New Shepard, Blue Origin's reusable suborbital launch vehicle, lifted off from the company's launch pad in Texas at 14:15 GMT.
Ms Benthause, who works for the European Space Agency, said the accident made her “really realize how inaccessible our world is” for people with disabilities.
She made her way from her wheelchair into the capsule on her own, using a bench protruding from the hatch.
Hans Koenigsmann, a former SpaceX manager who helped organize the trip, was strapped in nearby to provide assistance during the flight if necessary.
“I first met Hans on the Internet,” Ms. Benthaus said. “I just asked him, like, you worked at SpaceX for so long, do you think people like me can be astronauts?”
Koenigsmann said Ms. Benthaus “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,” he said.
Blue Origin said ground support equipment had been added to help Ms. Benthause get in and out of the capsule.
“Michie's flight is especially meaningful because it demonstrates that space is accessible to everyone, and we are proud to help her realize this dream,” said Phil Joyce, senior vice president of New Shepard.
The cost of the mission, which will be Blue Origin's 16th suborbital space tourism launch, was not disclosed.
The company has sent dozens of tourists into space. In April, pop star Katy Perry, Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sanchez and CBS host Gayle King were among six women sent into space aboard a Blue Origin rocket for a flight that lasted about 11 minutes.
The high-profile flights come at a time when private space companies are fiercely competing to dominate space tourism.
