(Smile File) Astronauts With Disabilities Take Flight

Hear this inspiring story of what is happening this week with the Blue Origin manned rocket launch.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, space travel has always been about pushing boundaries
and things, and this week one engineer is proving that
those boundaries are really meant to be broken. Her name
is Mikaela Benthouse. She's in a wheelchair. She works as
an engineer for the European Space Agency, and she's not
just hopping out a rocket for fun. It's been years
in the making that she's trained like an astronaut. She's

(00:21):
flown on zero gravity flights and spoken out about making
space accessible for people with disabilities. So Blue Origin is
scheduled to launch her and five other passengers tomorrow. The
trip's going to be short, about ten minutes from liftoff
to landing, about sixty miles above Earth. But ten minutes
doesn't sound like a lot, but the symbolism is massive

(00:42):
for people with disabilities.