A British astronaut has been cleared to become the first person with a physical disability to take part in a mission on the International Space Station, the European Space Agency (ESA) has said.
John McFall, a former paralympian sprinter from Cardiff, has been medically certified to undertake a long-duration space mission, the agency said at a news conference on Friday.
Mr McFall told Sky News’ science and medical correspondent Thomas Moore: “It’s great to have completed the feasibility study and demonstrated there is no technical showstopper for me flying to the International Space Station.”
He went on to say “today’s announcement is not just about me personally getting medically certified to to fly long-duration missions”.
“It’s much more than that,” he said while pointing to what he described as a culture shift in how people with disabilities are treated.
“I think it should give people faith that’s it is possible to change things and people are listening and with the right support, and the right work, it is possible to change mindsets.
“And whilst this just happens to be in the space industry, it doesn’t mean that it’s not possible in many, many other sectors.”
He also said in the news conference that he was mostly “passive” during the testing process, which lasted around a month and involved medical exams. He said he “just had to demonstrate I could do the required tasks”.
In 2022, the ESA launched the Fly! feasibility study to look at the challenges of getting a disabled astronaut to the ISS and Mr McFall, a father of three, was selected for the programme as a member of the ESA astronaut reserve.
