Paralympian hopes to inspire with astronaut training
A British Paralympian has become the world’s first disabled astronaut.
John McFall, 42, had his right leg amputated aged 19 after a motorbike accident and has become the first person with a physical disability to be selected for astronaut training by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Briton will now be part of ESA’s “parastronaut feasibility project” to see what aspects of spaceflight need to be adapted in order for people with disabilities to go to space.
Speaking at the Grand Palais Ephe´me`re ´ in Paris, McFall said he hopes to inspire others and prove that “space is for everyone”.
McFall won a paralympic bronze medal in the 100m T42 category at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a time of 13.08 seconds. He also has been world champion in the 200m discipline and in his post-athletics life trained as a doctor and is now a trauma and orthopaedics registrar.
The ESA announced it would be looking for astronauts with disabilities in early 2021 and McFall said he thought at the time that he would be “a very good candidate”.
“I always wanted to join the Army and that was what my life was tailored around — I came from a military family,” he said.
After losing his leg he taught himself to run again with a prosthetic, went to Swansea University and then did a master’s degree at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff. He is now working to be a consultant doctor alongside his astronaut training and said he was “very excited and proud” to be an astronaut.
“The message I would give to future generations is that science is for everyone and space travel, hopefully, is for everyone.”
McFall will now work with the ESA to try to make it possible for people of short stature, people with missing limbs and other physical disabilities to go to space. It remains unknown if McFall will ever go to space but the ESA has said it “can commit to trying as hard and seriously as we can”.
“If there is one thing we have learned by working on the International Space Station, it is that there is great value in diversity,” the ESA said last year. “Including people with special needs also means benefiting from their extraordinary experience, ability to adapt to difficult environments, and point of view.”
More than 22,500 people applied to join the ESA programme this year, with the largest number from France (7087). There were 257 applicants for the parastronaut scheme.
Following a comprehensive screening phase, 1361 people were invited to phase two, which was narrowed to just over 400 applicants during phase three. The ESA revealed 17 new astronauts in total this week.