NEW YORK, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space technology company Blue Origin on Saturday launched a wheelchair user into space, marking a historic first.
The New Shepard Mission NS-37 lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas at 8:16 a.m. Central Standard Time (1416 GMT) with a six-person crew.
Among them is Michaela Benthaus, an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency, who started to use wheelchairs after she suffered from a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident in 2018.
The crew capsule returned with a touchdown after around 10 minutes of flight.
Originally scheduled for Thursday, the mission was postponed due to an issue detected during preflight built-in checks.
Saturday's flight marked the 37th New Shepard mission and the 16th to carry humans above the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space from Earth.
In April 2025, Blue Origin completed an all-women crew spaceflight. ■
