Who is Michaela Benthaus? The first wheelchair-using astronaut to fly on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin

The universal truth is that setbacks don’t define us; it’s actually how we approach situations and how we respond to them that does.An especially abled woman broke all shackles, be it from a hospital bed or a launch pad to space, and proved to be an embodiment of fire that turns “can’t” into “watch me.”

The first woman in a wheelchair to fly to space

A German aerospace engineer made history on December 20, 2025, becoming the first wheelchair user to reach space aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. The rocket lifted off at 9:15 a.m. EST after weather delays, peaking over 105 km and offering more than three minutes of weightlessness. Benthaus later said, “It was the coolest experience! I didn’t only like the view and the microgravity, but I also liked the going up.

That was so cool, every stage of going up,” according to CBS News.

Who is Michaela Benthaus

Michaela Benthaus, who works in aerospace and mechatronics at the European Space Agency, joined five others on the New Shepard NS-37 mission, crossing the Kármán line, space’s boundary at 100 km up, during a 10-minute suborbital hop from West Texas.She suffered a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain biking accident, leaving her paraplegic and dependent on a wheelchair.

She scooted independently from her chair into the capsule using a transfer board provided by Blue Origin, with her legs strapped for the flight. The crew included former SpaceX executive Hans Koenigsmann, who helped arrange her spot, along with entrepreneurs Joey Hyde, Neal Milch, Adonis Pouroulis, and Jason Stansell, as reported in the Blue Origin announcement.Before launch, she shared her drive for inclusion in a Blue Origin video, where she said, “After my accident, I really, really figured out how inaccessible our world still is for people with disabilities.

If we want to be an inclusive society, we should be inclusive in every part, and not only in the parts we like to be.”

NASA chief applauds her achievement

New NASA chief Jared Isaacman wrote on X, “Congratulations, Michi! You just inspired millions to look up and imagine what is possible.” Benthaus hopes it paves the way for others, like ESA’s John McFall, who has a prosthetic leg and has been cleared for ISS missions.Blue Origin’s earlier flightsThis marked Blue Origin’s 16th crewed New Shepard flight since 2021, with a total of 92 people having flown so far, including celebrities like Katy Perry and William Shatner.