Blue Origin’s Historic Flight Paves New Path in Space Inclusivity

On December 20, Blue Origin performed the NS-37 suborbital flight, marking a historic moment as the first individual using a wheelchair traveled to space. This mission was the ninth New Shepard launch in 2025 and the seventh manned flight of the year. The rocket launched from Launch Site One in West Texas. The capsule carrying the crew reached a maximum altitude of approximately 106 kilometers, landing 10 minutes after takeoff.

Among the six passengers was Michaela “Miki” Benthaus, a European Space Agency engineer from Germany. Following a spinal injury sustained from a mountain biking fall, she uses a wheelchair. Benthaus’s flight was orchestrated with the assistance of Hans Koenigsmann, one of SpaceX’s early employees who worked there for nearly two decades. Benthaus mentioned they connected on LinkedIn, where she directly inquired about the possibility of disabled individuals becoming astronauts.

The preparation for the flight took about a year. According to Blue Origin employee Jake Mills, the structure of the New Shepard vehicle remained unchanged, but the ground facilities were upgraded. Special benches were installed for Benthaus to facilitate moving in and out of the capsule, and an elevator was added to the launch site. Benthaus emphasized feeling a sense of responsibility as the first wheelchair user in space, advocating for inclusivity across all areas of society. Immediately after the flight, she described it as “the coolest experience of her life,” extending gratitude to Blue Origin and Hans Koenigsmann for making the mission possible.

In addition to Benthaus and Koenigsmann, the mission included former hedge fund manager Joey Hyde, entrepreneur and investor Adonis Purulis, businessman and chairman of the Jackson Laboratory board Neil Milch, and space enthusiast Jason Stansell from West Texas.

Blue Origin announced that NS-37 was the final New Shepard launch of 2025. Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of the New Shepard program, stated that the company plans to increase the flight frequency in 2026 and subsequent years. He previously discussed expanding the fleet of spacecraft and potentially moving to weekly launches, with future aspirations of launches from other spaceports.