Tag: para-astronaut
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Breaking Barriers: How John McFall Redefined Who Gets to Space
Introduction: A New Frontier for Space Candidates In a landmark shift for space exploration, the European Space Agency (ESA) asked a provocative question: who gets to go to space? The answer it pursued was not about heritage, wealth, or spectacle, but about capability. The result is the story of John McFall, a lower-limb amputee who…
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Breaking Barriers in Space: John McFall’s Para-Astronaut Crusade
Rethinking Who Goes to Space When we imagine astronauts, images of peak physical fitness and unblemished records often come to mind. But the European Space Agency (ESA) challenged that assumption with the para-astronaut feasibility project, a groundbreaking initiative to determine whether candidates with physical disabilities could safely live and work aboard the International Space Station…