By BlueShift and AFP | 2025-02-17

PARIS -- The first-ever astronaut with a physical disability has been cleared for a mission onboard the International Space Station (ISS), the European Space Agency (ESA) announced last Friday (February 14).

John McFall, a 43-year-old British surgeon and former Paralympian who lost a leg in a motorbike accident when he was 19, said he was "hugely proud" of clearing the hurdle.

Since announcing McFall as a member of its astronaut reserve in 2022, the ESA has been assessing the feasibility of someone with a prosthesis becoming a crew member on a space mission.

The EAS's Fly! Feasibility Study, concluded in January, demonstrated it is technically feasible to fly someone with a physical disability like McFall's on a six-month mission to the ISS as a fully integrated crew member.

It found that "astronauts with the specified disability (unilateral lower-limb amputations, no more proximal than the distal third of the femur, or equivalent unilateral lower limb deficiency) could safely train, participate in, and return from long-duration missions to the ISS," the ESA said in a statement.

"Inclusion in space exploration is achievable without imposing significant financial or operational burdens," it added.

The next phase, called Fly! Mission Ready, will focus on identifying potential experiments and studies that could be implemented should a mission be confirmed.

Medical clearance granted

On Friday, the ESA announced that McFall had passed one important hurdle in the Mission Ready phase, having received medical clearance for a long-duration mission onboard the ISS.

McFall emphasized that he was "relatively passive" in the process, and just had to be medically healthy and carry out the required tasks.

"This is way bigger than me -- this is a cultural shift," he told an online press conference.

There is no date yet for when McFall will get his chance to become what the ESA has dubbed the first "parastronaut."

"Now he's an astronaut like everybody else who wants to fly to the space station, waiting for a mission assignment," ESA director of human and robotic exploration Daniel Neuenschwander said.

All ISS partners, including the United States, had given McFall medical clearance, he added.

The Mission Ready phase will also look at some of the hardware needed, including prosthetics, so that McFall can best overcome any additional challenges in space.

Technologies that researchers are working on "are going to trickle down and have benefits for prosthetic users in wider society as well," said McFall.