First wheelchair user heads to the stars: Today’s historic launch

A German aerospace engineer may soon make history by becoming the first wheelchair user to go to space.
She is expected to fly on Blue Origin’s next human space mission, which will launch from West Texas, marking a big step for inclusion in space travel. Michaela (Michi) Benthaus, an aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency, has been chosen as one of six passengers for a Blue Origin spaceflight. She will ride the New Shepard rocket on its 37th mission, which is scheduled to launch soon.

Benthaus has used a wheelchair since 2018. She was seriously injured in a mountain biking accident, which caused a spinal cord injury. New Shepard is a spacecraft built by Blue Origin, the company started by Jeff Bezos.
It is used for short space trips above Earth’s atmosphere, and since 2021, most of its flights have carried people into space for a few minutes. The upcoming launch will be Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight after a gap of more than two months, during which no people were sent to space. It will be the sixth such mission, following the April flight where all six passengers were women, including singer Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, who took a short trip into space together.

The upcoming trip comes soon after Blue Origin’s recent launch of the New Glenn rocket. That mission was uncrewed (no people on board) and was launched from Florida, showing the company’s rapid progress in space missions. Here’s everything to know about Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission, called NS-37. This will be the rocket’s 37th flight overall and its 16th mission carrying people into space.

When will Blue Origin’s next rocket launch take place in Texas?

Blue Origin plans to launch its New Shepard rocket on Thursday, December 18.
The spacecraft is expected to lift off at 9:30 p.m. IST, according to the company’s announcement.

The US aviation authority (FAA) has said that if the launch is delayed, Blue Origin has a backup chance to launch the next day. This means the mission can be rescheduled quickly if needed.

From where are Blue Origin’s New Shepard rockets launched?

Blue Origin launches its New Shepard rocket from a private launch site in Texas. The place is called Launch Site One, located north of the town of Van Horn, near the US–Mexico border.

First wheelchair user may travel to space on next Blue Origin rocket launch

Benthaus, an aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency, is expected to make history.
She could become the first person who uses a wheelchair to travel to space, marking a major moment for inclusion in space missions. In 2018, Benthaus hurt her spine in a mountain biking accident. Because of this injury, she cannot walk, according to Blue Origin. Benthaus said that after her accident, she believed her dream of going to space was over. In an Instagram post on August 12, she said she is very grateful and hopes her journey will change how the space industry thinks, so that more people with disabilities get chances like this.

Who will be part of the crew on Blue Origin’s next space mission?

When New Shepard launches again, the six selected passengers will become part of a group of 80 people who have already flown on this spacecraft. These flights happened over 15 earlier human missions, and six people have even flown more than once. Apart from Benthaus, five other passengers have been chosen for the NS-37 mission.

• Joey Hyde – a physicist and investor from Florida
• Hans Koenigsmann – a German-American aerospace engineer who worked with SpaceX for 20 years
• Neal Milch – a business leader and entrepreneur, and chairman of a medical research institute
• Adonis Pouroulis – an entrepreneur and investor in the energy and natural resources sector
• Jason Stansell – an adventurer from West Texas with a strong interest in rockets and space

Is Blue Origin owned by Jeff Bezos?

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire who founded Amazon, started Blue Origin in 2000.

The company is based in Washington state and tests and launches its New Shepard spacecraft from West Texas.

What is New Shepard?

New Shepard is a reusable rocket built by Blue Origin, reports usatoday.com. It is mainly used to carry up to six people on short trips to the edge of space, where they experience weightlessness for a few minutes. Jeff Bezos himself flew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard during its first human mission in July 2021, reports usatoday.com. Before carrying people, the spacecraft had completed 15 test flights since 2012, proving it was safe and reliable.

What is New Glenn?

The New Shepard is a small rocket meant for short space trips, and it is different from the much bigger New Glenn rocket, reports news outlet USA Today. New Glenn is built for longer missions into orbit and has already launched twice from Florida. The 322-foot-tall New Glenn rocket, one of the largest working rockets in the world, last launched on November 13, reports news outlet USA Today. The mission was to send two NASA ESCAPADE satellites toward Mars, showing the rocket’s deep-space capability.

New Shepard is built for short space trips, but New Glenn shows Blue Origin’s bigger goal. With New Glenn, Blue Origin wants to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 rockets currently lead the global commercial space market.

What takes place during a New Shepard rocket launch?

Each New Shepard space trip lasts about 11 minutes. This time includes the launch, a short stay in space, and the capsule landing back on Earth. The New Shepard rocket is named after Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space.
It is about 60 feet tall and has a rounded crew capsule on top. The flight is fully automatic, which means no pilot is needed to fly the spacecraft.

During launch, the spacecraft flies faster than 2,000 miles per hour (over 3,200 km per hour). After reaching this very high speed, the rocket booster separates from the crew capsule. At this stage, the crew capsule becomes weightless, so passengers float freely. The spacecraft then rises above the Kármán Line — the official edge of space, about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth. If people are on board, passengers can unbuckle their seats and enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness.

They can float freely and look at Earth through the capsule’s large windows, getting a beautiful view of the planet.

At the same time, the rocket booster returns to Earth. It fires its engines and uses fins to slow down, then lands straight up about two miles (around 3.2 km) from the launch site. The crew capsule slowly falls back toward Earth in what Blue Origin calls a “stable freefall”. Three large parachutes open, helping the capsule land gently in the desert, raising clouds of dust on touchdown.

What is the price of a Blue Origin space ride?

If you dream of flying to space on a Blue Origin spacecraft, you usually need to be very rich or famous enough to be specially invited. For most people, space travel is still not affordable. Blue Origin does not openly show ticket prices on its website. But to reserve a seat, a customer must agree to pay a $150,000 deposit (about ₹1.35 crores), showing that space travel is very expensive.

In 2021, the first Blue Origin space ticket sold for $28 million (about ₹252 crore). The price was decided through an auction, where 7,600 people from 159 countries registered to bid, showing that space travel costs run into crores and are meant for the ultra-rich. However, a few selected passengers did not pay themselves. Their New Shepard seats were paid for using grants or special funding provided by large institutions, not personal money.