Daily Junction.mobi portal<p>The good news is we are seeing a paradigm shift. In 2021, <a href="https://www.aapa.org/news-central/2021/03/reaching-new-heights-from-cancer-survivor-to-becoming-the-first-pa-in-space/">Hayley Arceneaux</a> spent three days in orbit on SpaceX’s Inspiration4, becoming the first person with a prosthetic bone to reach space. In 2025, ESA engineer <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y9z0g7lleo">Michaela Benthaus</a> became the first wheelchair user on a suborbital commercial flight. McFall’s selection marks the first time a major space agency has cleared a disabled astronaut for long-duration scientific work in orbit. </p>
<p>Progress does not come from excluding each other, but from discovering what becomes possible when the universe’s criteria finally replace our own. </p>
<p>The goal, then, should not be simply to send one disabled astronaut to space and call it progress. It is to involve disabled thinkers, engineers, and designers at every stage of mission planning. The systems they would help build would be demonstrably better for it. </p>
<p>Adaptation, more than perfection, may turn out to be what matters most.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/287222/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/zoe-elisabeth-swann-baillie-2726695">Zoe Elisabeth Swann Baillie</a>, Research Associate in Humanity and Space, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-leicester-1053">University of Leicester</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-if-disabled-astronauts-are-just-better-suited-to-space-287222">original article</a>.</p> </div>