Blue Origin’s next suborbital mission is poised to do more than sell another batch of high-altitude joyrides. By flying a wheelchair user on its New Shepard rocket, the company is testing how far commercial spaceflight can go in treating disabled travelers not as exceptions, but as core customers. The flight turns a long-running thought experiment about accessibility in orbit into a concrete test case for how future cabins, training programs, and even ticketing policies might change.
For disabled people who have been told for decades that space was off limits, the upcoming mission is a rare moment when the industry’s rhetoric about inclusion is being matched by hardware, crew manifests, and research plans. It is also a reminder that the same design choices that make a rocket capsule work for a wheelchair user can ripple outward to reshape aircraft cabins, cruise ships, and high-end adventure travel on Earth.
NS-37 and the first wheelchair user in space
Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission, designated NS-37, is being framed as a turning point because it will carry a passenger who uses a wheelchair into suborbital space. The company has presented this flight as a standard tourist launch, but the presence of a disabled traveler on the manifest signals a deliberate attempt to test how its capsule, seats, and procedures perform when one of the six passengers has different mobility needs. That shift, from hypothetical inclusion to an actual wheelchair rolling into the training hangar, is what gives NS-37 its outsized symbolic weight.
The passenger at the center of that shift is Michi Benthaus, an aerospace engineer who works at the European Space Agency. Benthaus, identified as the first wheelchair user to reach suborbital space on a commercial rocket, is one of six people booked on NS-37, and their presence forces every step of the experience, from boarding to microgravity movement, to be reconsidered through an accessibility lens. By treating Benthaus as a full member of the crew rather than a special case, Blue Origin is effectively stress-testing its own claim that private spaceflight can be open to a far broader range of bodies and abilities.
Why this mission matters for disabled travelers
For disabled travelers, NS-37 is not just another milestone in the space tourism race, it is a proof of concept that high-end adventure travel can be designed from the start to include them. When a company like Blue Origin adapts its cabin layout, restraint systems, and emergency procedures so that a wheelchair user can participate in the same high-intensity experience as non-disabled passengers, it sends a signal to airlines, cruise operators, and tour companies that accessibility is compatible with premium pricing and complex logistics. The mission effectively reframes disability not as a disqualifying risk factor, but as a design parameter that can be engineered around.
That reframing is reinforced by the way Blue Origin and its partners have described the mission as part of a broader effort to make spaceflight more inclusive for people with a range of disabilities, not just mobility impairments. Reporting on the upcoming flight notes that the NS-37 team is drawing on prior research flights that tested how blind, low-vision, deaf, hard-of-hearing, and mobility-impaired participants move and communicate in weightlessness, and that the company sees this work as a step toward opening suborbital and eventually orbital trips to a much wider population of disabled travelers. By positioning Benthaus’s seat on NS-37 as one node in that larger push, the mission becomes a template for how other travel sectors might integrate disabled customers into their most aspirational products rather than relegating them to the margins.
Michi Benthaus and the power of representation
Representation in spaceflight has always carried outsized cultural weight, and the choice of Michi Benthaus as a passenger on NS-37 is no exception. Benthaus is not only a wheelchair user, but also an aerospace engineer embedded in the technical culture of the European Space Agency, which means they bring both lived experience of disability and professional expertise in spacecraft systems to the mission. That combination makes Benthaus a powerful proxy for disabled engineers, scientists, and students who have long been told that their bodies disqualify them from the environments they help design.
By flying as one of the six tourists on NS-37 rather than as a medical outlier or special payload, Benthaus helps normalize the idea that wheelchair users can be part of mixed-ability crews in commercial spaceflight. Coverage of the mission has emphasized that Benthaus is “about to make history” as the first wheelchair user to reach suborbital space on a tourist rocket, and that this step is being watched closely by disabled advocates who see it as a wedge into broader participation in space programs. The fact that Benthaus is already working inside a major space agency gives their flight added resonance, suggesting a future in which disabled professionals are not confined to ground roles but can move fluidly between mission control and the capsule itself.
Blue Origin’s evolving approach to accessibility
Blue Origin has been steadily expanding its space tourism operations, and the NS-37 mission fits into a pattern of incremental upgrades to both hardware and passenger mix. Earlier flights of the New Shepard system carried a mix of celebrities, paying customers, and research payloads, but the company has increasingly highlighted missions that test new use cases for its capsule. Reports on the upcoming flight describe it as part of a series of launches in which Blue Origin has flown multiple “Space for Humanity” style participants and other non-traditional passengers, using each mission to refine how its crew capsule handles different body types, ages, and experience levels in microgravity.
That evolution is visible in the way Blue Origin has framed NS-37 as “breaking new ground for people with disabilities” while also treating it as a routine commercial launch. One of the passengers is Michi Benthaus, and the company has linked their participation to a broader effort to show that its New Shepard system can accommodate a wider range of travelers. In coverage of the mission, Blue Origin’s work is described as part of a continuum that includes earlier flights where the company launched six “Space for Humanity” style participants and emphasized that thoughtful design and training “can make any space accessible.” By embedding accessibility experiments into its standard manifest rather than isolating them in special test flights, Blue Origin is signaling that inclusive design is becoming a core feature of its tourism business rather than a side project.
AstroAccess and the science of inclusive spaceflight
The NS-37 mission does not exist in a vacuum, it builds directly on years of work by disability advocates and researchers who have been testing how different bodies function in microgravity. A central player in that ecosystem is AstroAccess, a project that has organized parabolic flights where disabled participants experience short bursts of weightlessness while collecting data on how they move, communicate, and use adaptive equipment. Those flights have generated a growing body of evidence that disabled people are not only capable of operating in microgravity, but in some cases can perform tasks more effectively than non-disabled peers once the constraints of gravity are removed.
AstroAccess is formally described as a project of the SciAccess Initiative, and its stated goal is to promote inclusive human space exploration by paving the way for Disabled astronauts. The organization’s own materials explain that it is dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration not only for marginalized communities, but for the benefit of all humankind, a mission that is spelled out in detail on its about page. By feeding its research into commercial operators like Blue Origin, AstroAccess helps ensure that the lessons learned from parabolic flights and ground simulations are translated into concrete design changes in tourist capsules and training programs.
From research flights to NS-37: how the data is being used
One of the most important threads connecting AstroAccess to NS-37 is the way research findings are being folded into commercial mission planning. A study completed in 2024, cited in coverage of Blue Origin’s upcoming flight, examined how disabled participants performed in microgravity and concluded that with the right adaptations, they could carry out complex tasks as effectively as non-disabled peers. That research has been described as a key input into how companies like Blue Origin think about cabin layout, restraint systems, and emergency procedures for mixed-ability crews.
Reporting on the NS-37 mission notes that this 2024 study helped “pave the way” for disabled travelers by demonstrating that thoughtful design and training can make any space accessible, a phrase that appears in coverage of Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight and is linked to the idea that accessibility is a solvable engineering problem rather than an insurmountable barrier. One analysis of the mission explains that the study, completed in 2024, gave operators confidence that disabled passengers could safely participate in suborbital flights and even pursue orbital dreams, a conclusion that is highlighted in a detailed discussion of how research is shaping commercial manifests. By treating that study as a green light rather than a mere curiosity, Blue Origin and its partners are turning academic findings into concrete changes in who gets a seat on the rocket.
Inside the NS-37 cabin: design, training, and safety
Although Blue Origin has not published a full technical manual for NS-37, reporting on the mission and on prior New Shepard flights offers a clear picture of the design choices that matter most for disabled travelers. The capsule uses large windows, reclining seats, and a relatively spacious cabin that allows passengers to unbuckle and float during the brief period of weightlessness. For a wheelchair user like Benthaus, the key questions are how they transfer into the seat before launch, how they move once restraints are released, and how they resecure themselves for reentry, all within a tight timeline and in coordination with five other passengers.
Coverage of Blue Origin’s accessibility work notes that the company has been testing different harness configurations, handholds, and communication protocols to ensure that passengers with mobility or sensory impairments can navigate the cabin safely. In earlier flights that “broke new ground for people with disabilities,” Blue Origin highlighted how its crew capsule could be adapted for different needs, and how training on the ground prepared passengers for the choreography of microgravity. The NS-37 mission extends that work by putting a wheelchair user into the mix and by drawing on lessons from prior research flights that showed how disabled participants can orient themselves quickly in weightlessness using tactile cues and pre-planned movement paths.
Ticketing, tourism, and who gets to go
Beyond the technical details, NS-37 raises hard questions about who will actually benefit from more accessible space tourism. Blue Origin’s tickets remain priced for the ultra-wealthy, and even as the company opens its cabin to a wheelchair user, the broader population of disabled travelers faces steep financial and logistical barriers to participation. The mission therefore functions as both a breakthrough and a reminder that representation at the top of the market does not automatically translate into mass access, especially when the cost of a single seat can rival a luxury home.
At the same time, the visibility of a mission like NS-37 can have ripple effects far beyond the handful of people who will ever fly on New Shepard. When a high-profile company invests in accessibility, it creates pressure on other travel providers to follow suit, particularly in sectors like aviation and cruise tourism where disabled customers already represent a significant share of the market. The narrative around Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight, which has been described as “breaking new ground for people with disabilities” and as part of a broader push to show that thoughtful design can make any space accessible, helps normalize the idea that disabled travelers should be considered core customers in every segment of the travel industry, not just in niche or subsidized programs.
Partnerships, advocacy, and the role of AstroAccess
The bridge between symbolic missions and systemic change often runs through advocacy groups, and AstroAccess has positioned itself as a key intermediary between disabled communities and commercial operators like Blue Origin. The organization’s main site describes how it organizes research flights, develops accessibility guidelines, and works with industry partners to translate those guidelines into concrete design and training changes. By maintaining a public-facing presence at AstroAccess, the group invites disabled people, researchers, and companies to collaborate on making spaceflight more inclusive.
AstroAccess’s work is also highlighted in broader reporting on Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight, which notes that the mission is part of a larger ecosystem of efforts to “pave the way” for disabled astronauts and travelers. One detailed analysis of the NS-37 mission explains how Blue Origin’s accessibility push is intertwined with advocacy and research, and how the company has drawn on external expertise to refine its approach. Another report on the same mission, accessible through a general overview of Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight, situates NS-37 within a broader narrative about how private spaceflight is experimenting with new passenger profiles and mission goals. Together, these threads show that the path from parabolic research flights to commercial suborbital missions is being actively managed by a network of advocates, scientists, and companies who see accessibility as both a moral imperative and a business opportunity.
Beyond NS-37: what comes next for inclusive space travel
NS-37 is a milestone, but it is also a starting point for a much longer conversation about what inclusive space travel should look like. Future missions will need to consider not only wheelchair users, but also passengers with sensory, cognitive, and chronic health conditions, each of which raises different design and training challenges. The research underpinning NS-37, including the 2024 study that concluded disabled participants could safely pursue orbital dreams with the right adaptations, suggests that many of these challenges are solvable if companies are willing to invest in iterative testing and to treat disabled travelers as partners in design rather than as edge cases.
There are already hints of how that future might unfold in reporting on Blue Origin’s broader plans and on the way other companies are watching NS-37. One detailed discussion of the mission, accessible through a focused look at how Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight will break new ground for people with disabilities, notes that the company is already thinking about how lessons from NS-37 could inform future suborbital and orbital offerings. Another segment of that coverage, which highlights how Blue Origin has launched multiple New Shepard missions while gradually expanding the diversity of its passenger lists, underscores that NS-37 is part of a longer arc rather than a one-off gesture. As more missions fly and more disabled travelers participate, the question will shift from whether space tourism can accommodate them to how quickly the rest of the travel industry can catch up.
Ripple effects for travel on Earth
What happens in a suborbital capsule rarely stays there. The design innovations and training protocols tested on NS-37 are likely to influence how airlines, cruise lines, and adventure tour operators think about accessibility on Earth. If a wheelchair user can safely board a rocket, strap in for a high-acceleration ascent, float in microgravity, and return to Earth within a single flight, it becomes harder for terrestrial operators to argue that they cannot accommodate similar passengers on far less demanding journeys. The optics of a wheelchair rolling up to a rocket gantry and returning safely to the landing pad will resonate in boardrooms and regulatory hearings well beyond the space sector.
Some of those ripple effects are already visible in the way travel and tourism outlets are covering NS-37. One detailed feature on the mission, accessible through a travel-focused lens, emphasizes how Blue Origin has announced six passengers for its upcoming NS 37 mission and frames the inclusion of a wheelchair user as a historic milestone for tourism more broadly. That piece situates NS-37 alongside other efforts to make high-end travel more inclusive, from adaptive scuba programs to accessible polar cruises, and suggests that the same mindset driving accessibility in space can and should be applied to every corner of the travel industry. As operators watch how customers respond to NS-37 and how regulators interpret its lessons, the mission’s impact is likely to extend far beyond the brief minutes its passengers spend above the Kármán line.
The narrative taking shape around NS-37
As NS-37 approaches, a distinct narrative is coalescing around the mission, one that blends technical achievement, disability rights, and commercial ambition. Detailed coverage of the flight, including a focused look at how Michi Benthaus is about to make history as the first wheelchair user to reach the final frontier on a Blue Origin tourist launch, frames the mission as both a personal milestone and a collective step forward. Another segment of that reporting, which highlights how Paving the way for disabled travelers has become a central talking point in discussions of Blue Origin’s next space tourism flight, underscores how deeply accessibility has been woven into the story the company is telling about itself.
That narrative is reinforced by additional analysis that digs into the 2024 study underpinning the mission and concludes that disabled participants can safely pursue orbital dreams if operators are willing to adapt their systems, a point highlighted in a detailed discussion of how research is shaping Blue Origin’s plans. It is also echoed in coverage that zooms out to look at how Blue Origin has launched multiple New Shepard missions while steadily expanding the diversity of its passenger lists. Taken together, these threads suggest that NS-37 is not just a one-off experiment, but part of a broader shift in how spaceflight, and by extension high-end travel, understands who belongs on board.
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