Disabled astronauts are getting closer to reality

European Space Agency (ESA) will enable people with physical handicaps become astronautsparticipating in orbital flights. For the first time in the history of space exploration.

This unprecedented “Paraastronaut Feasibility Project” will be presented on Wednesday, after 22 Member States THIS IS determine your budget in Paris.

New promotion astronautswhich will replace 2009, which will include four to six people selected from nearly 23,000 European candidates.

Until now, the selections, known for their high degree of difficulty, excluded people with physical disabilities.

“The paraastronaut feasibility project requires a complete change of philosophy” regarding medical ability, a concept of military origin designed to select fighter pilots, explains AFP Guillaume Werts, the astronauts’ chief medical officer. THIS IS.

When the recruitment campaign began in February 2021, the agency announced that it would open the doors of the place to one or more candidates with disability in the lower extremities (due to amputation or congenital malformation). Their names may be revealed on Wednesday.

People less than 1.30 meters tall or with asymmetrical legs are also allowed. The required intellectual and psychological skills are the same as those of other astronauts.

“We dealt with a large group of candidates and met amazing people,” says Werths, who has been involved in various stages of the selection process.

The process “demonstrated that disability is not a limitation”. Parallel THIS IS launched a “feasibility study” for sending a “paracosmonaut” aboard a manned aircraft, for example, to stay in international space station (ISS).

The first paraastronaut… not so soon

In an extremely precise universe travel spaceeven small modifications can become extremely complex and expensive.

For example, existing systems are designed for people of a certain height. So, how can we make sure that “a short person has access to the buttons?” asks the person in charge THIS IS.

The Agency plans to work with selected individuals to find the best way to identify and overcome these potential difficulties.

Is it possible to quickly organize the first flight with paratrooper? “Space is not a rush job,” Weirts replies.

The calendar is hard to predict because “it really depends on what we find,” he stresses, adding that there is still a lot of work to be done once the candidates are chosen.

But potentially disabled cosmonaut could be sent to space “in the next ten years.”

Project of the first passionate astronaut

Kamran Mallik, CEO of British charity Disability Rights UK, calls the project “incredibly exciting” as people with disabilities “are left out of many of the great things that humanity is doing.”

“If we want to explore the universe, we have to recognize that adventure cannot be reserved just for a certain group of people,” Mallik told AFP, praising the initiative. THIS IS work with disabled cosmonauts to meet your needs.

“I’m in a wheelchair and I’m much better off when people ask me what works for me, what I need, rather than making assumptions about what someone can or can’t do,” she said.

He remembers how, as a teenager, he dreamed of becoming astronaut watching the launch of the spacecraft.

“They quickly assured me that this would not happen. “You shouldn’t aspire to be an astronaut,” they told me. Today I regret that I did not realize my dream,” he said.

AFP