(NewsNation) — Blue Origin plans to launch the first wheelchair user into space Thursday, a history-making moment.
Aerospace engineer Michi Benthaus, who works with the European Space Agency, will be accompanied by five crew members. She and her colleagues will launch aboard a suborbital New Shepard vehicle.
The mission has been dubbed NS-37 because it is the 37th launch of New Shepard, a fully reusable rocket-capsule vehicle.
The suborbital flights are brief, lasting between 10 and 12 minutes from liftoff to touchdown. During the flight, passengers have a chance to view Earth from space and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
Benthaus has been in a wheelchair since a 2018 mountain biking accident. Others on the flight will include engineer Hans Koenigsman, entrepreneur Neal Milch, investors Joey Hyde and Adonis Pouroulis and “space nerd” Jason Stansell.
Blue Origin has not revealed how much it costs to buy a seat on a launch.