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Episode details

World Service,2 mins

First wheelchair user in space

Weekend

Available for over a year

Michaela Benthaus, an engineer from Germany who suffered a spinal cord injury in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, has become the world's first wheelchair user to go into space. A retired space engineer who she'd contacted online helped to organise the historic ten- minute flight, which was sponsored by the space tourism firm Blue Origin owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. She's been speaking to Weekend's Krupa Padhy about the dream-come-true rocket ride and making space travel accessible in the future. (Photo: Michaela Benthaus waves from the capsule door of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket after landing, Credit: Blue Origin/Handout via REUTERS)

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