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For the first time, a person with a disability has gone to space.

A German female engineer became the first person with a disability in the world to travel to space aboard a Blue Origin spacecraft on Saturday.

Michaela Benthaus suffered a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident seven years ago and has used a wheelchair ever since.

Some time ago, she contacted a retired space engineer online to find out whether her dream of becoming an astronaut was still possible. Hans Koenigsmann, the retired engineer, then helped organise a historic 10-minute flight with Blue Origin, the space-tourism company founded by Jeff Bezos.

Ms Benthaus, Mr Koenigsmann and four others launched from Texas on Saturday and reached an altitude of about 100 kilometres above Earth, at the point known as the Karman line, the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

After landing, she said in a video released by Blue Origin: "This was the coolest experience of my life!"

"I not only loved the view [of Earth from space] and weightlessness, but I also loved the climb. Every stage of our ascent was very interesting."

New Shepard, Blue Origin's reusable rocket, lifted off from the company's launch site in Texas at 14:15 GMT.

Ms Benthaus, who works at the European Space Agency, says that after the accident that caused her disability, she "really realised how inaccessible our world still is for people with disabilities."

Using a bench placed over the capsule's entry hatch, she transferred herself from her wheelchair into the capsule.

Hans Koenigsmann, the retired SpaceX executive who helped organise the trip, was seated near her so he could assist her during the flight if needed.

Ms Benthaus says: "I first met Hans online. I asked him: You worked for SpaceX for a long time; do you think people like me can become astronauts?"

Koenigsmann says Ms Benthaus "inspired me to do this. It was her motivation that convinced me that I should do it too, and have an experience I had watched from the outside for a long time."

Michaela Benthaus (in the wheelchair) alongside Hans Koenigsmann (third from the left), the retired SpaceX executive who helped make her dream come true.

Blue Origin says ground-support equipment was added to help Ms Benthaus get into and out of the space capsule.

Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of New Shepard, said: "Michaela's flight is especially meaningful and shows that space is for everyone, and we are proud to have helped her make this dream a reality."

The cost of the mission, which was Blue Origin's 16th suborbital tourist launch, has not been disclosed.

The company has already taken dozens of tourists to space. In April, pop singer Katy Perry, Bezos's fiancee Lauren Sanchez and CBS presenter Gayle King were among six women launched into space on a Blue Origin rocket for a flight of about 11 minutes.

These high-profile flights are taking place at a time when private space companies are competing fiercely to dominate space tourism.

Original article: BBC News Persian, 21 December 2025. https://www.bbc.com/persian/articles/cx254p3mjyko