AstroAccess Ambassador Michaela “Michi” Benthaus Makes History as First Wheelchair User in Space

Andi LimonAA Press Releases

A group of six people, including two wheelchair users in front, pose smiling on a launch pad with the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket standing upright behind them under a bright blue sky. One person in a blue flight suit holds a small dog on their lap, and the group stands near yellow and blue ground equipment.
AstroAccess poses with Michi in front of the recovered NS-37 booster post-flight. From top left in clockwise order: AstroAccess Ambassador Kyle Horn, Executive Director Anna Voelker, AstroAccess Executive Caitlin O'Brien, Former NASA Astronaut Cady Coleman, AstroAccess Ambassador Michi Benthaus, and AstroAccess Ambassador Eric Ingram. Image source: Caitlin O’Brien / AstroAccess

Blue Origin’s NS-37 Mission Marks a Milestone for Accessible and Inclusive Spaceflight

 

December 20, 2025; VAN HORN, TX – Today, AstroAccess celebrates a historic milestone in spaceflight and accessibility as AstroAccess Ambassador Michaela “Michi” Benthaus became the first wheelchair user to travel to space, flying aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-37 mission.

The mission launched on December 20, 2025 at 8:15 CT from Launch Site One in West Texas, successfully reaching space and crossing the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. The flight carried six civilian crew members and provided several minutes of weightlessness before safely returning to Earth. The total flight duration was approximately eleven minutes.

A woman riding a Blue Origin–branded Rivian SUV smiles and waves out the window while a group of people stand nearby cheering and photographing the moment against a clear blue sky and desert landscape.

Michaela “Michi” Benthaus smiles and waves to friends and family before departing for the launch pad for her suborbital flight. Image source: Caitlin O’Brien / AstroAccess.

NS-37 marked Blue Origin’s 16th human spaceflight mission and represents a milestone moment for inclusive space exploration. Benthaus’s participation challenges long-held assumptions about who can access space and demonstrates the importance of designing missions that consider a wider range of human bodies and experiences.

“We are proud to have had Michi on our AstroAccess flight crew in 2022 and could not be more excited for the doors her Blue Origin flight will open. Today marks a groundbreaking mission for advancing accessibility, on Earth and beyond,” said Anna Voelker, Co-Founder and Executive Director of AstroAccess.

Michi was selected as an AstroAccess Ambassador in 2022 for AA2, the second full charter AstroAccess flight. As part of AA2, Benthaus flew onboard the Zero-Gravity Corporation’s G-Force One for eighteen parabolas. Benthaus contributed to AstroAccess’ research on mobility access, testing ingress and egress into a seat designed to simulate those used on suborbital flights.

A smiling woman in a blue flight suit floats weightlessly inside an aircraft during a zero-gravity flight, waving while another crew member in a flight suit and mask steadies them from below.

Benthaus smiles while floating in zero gravity onboard G-Force One in December 2022 for the AA2 parabolic flight. Image source: Tasha Dixon / Zero-G.

AstroAccess continues to advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities in space research, exploration, and human spaceflight, working to ensure that future missions reflect the diversity of humanity.

Voelker added, “This flight is the beginning, not the end. Michi’s mission embodies AstroAccess’ motto that ‘If we can make space accessible, we can make any space accessible.’”

About AstroAccess

AstroAccess is dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration for the benefit of humankind. The project is part of SciAccess, an international nonprofit dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in STEM. Learn more about AstroAccess at astroaccess.org.

For media inquiries and interview requests, contact AstroAccess Media Relations at press@astroaccess.org.

###