Briton John McFall may become the first astronaut with a disability

10.10.2024/14/30 XNUMX:XNUMX    1

First an astronaut Briton John McFall may become disabled. Now European Space Agency is testing the possibility of sending it into space.

Since John lost his leg in a car accident and uses a prosthesis, it is important to understand how the conditions in space will affect him. There is every indication that a space flight for McFall could happen, writes The Guardian. And it gives hope that in the future he or someone else with a disability can eventually prepare for a future mission.

The story of John McFall began with a job ad for future astronauts sent to him by an acquaintance. And the husband's reaction was lightning-fast - he really wanted to go into space. But during more than six decades of space exploration, there has not been a single case of a person with any health problems becoming an astronaut.

Despite this, he moved forward. It's been three years since John saw the job ad and now he really could become the world's first disabled astronaut.

Briton John McFall, who lost his leg after a car accident, may become the first astronaut with a disability. Photo

McFall went through a grueling selection process at the European Space Agency, which consisted of six stages, from hours-long psychomotor tests to panel interviews. In 2022, the agency agreed to join them in efforts to push the boundaries of space exploration toward whether people with disabilities can live and work in space.




"It's very exciting. Why wasn't this done earlier?", says 43-year-old McFall in an interview.

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There are currently no exact guarantees that McFall will fly into space. But there is movement in this direction. Because space operations were designed for people with no musculoskeletal problems, the tests aimed to examine questions such as how John would be able to move and stabilize in microgravity and how conditions in space would affect his prosthesis.

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While the agency's work in this area today is specifically about McFall, part of the project's goal is to pave the way for other people with disabilities.

"I hope that between 2027 and the end of this decade we will see a European astronaut with a disability as part of the crew of the International Space Station," said a representative of the European Space Agency.

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