John McFall, former Paralympian and surgeon, has become the first disabled astronaut to be cleared for a mission to the International Space Station.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Monday that he has been medically certified to undertake a long-duration mission.
McFall, who lost his leg in a motorbike accident at age 19, was selected to take part in the Agency’s 2022 study into the feasibility of flying someone with a physical disability on a six-month mission to the space station.
Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA director of human and robotic exploration, said there are several main elements to the next phase, called ‘Mission Ready’. In this phase, the Agency is working on the type of scientific research activities that would be conducted on a mission; the qualification of the prosthesis; and the medical certification.
“It’s great that we can say after a huge amount of work in the last 18 months that we have demonstrated that it’s technically possible for someone with a disability like mine to fly on a long duration mission,” said McFall. “And now we’re progressing to the next phase and what we want to do is realise that opportunity to fly, so moving forward, we’re moving into the Mission Ready phase.”
He said that the Mission Ready phase is an important step in moving forward to realise a potential flight opportunity.
“One of the roles of an astronaut is to do important science in microgravity whilst working in space and it’s really my hope that if I get the chance to fly we realise what we do in space, the things we learn, the problems we solve, the technology that we develop has a trickle-down effect and benefits people here on earth in wider society,” continued the astronaut. “This progression to the Mission Ready phase is a really important milestone in the history of human spaceflight.”
McFall is currently taking part in ESA Astronaut Reserve training at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany, along with the UK’s Meganne Christian.
