German engineer becomes first wheelchair user to visit space

German engineer Michaela Benthaus, who has paraplegia, traveled to space with Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin.

German engineer Michaela Benthaus on Saturday became the first person with paraplegia to travel to space.

The brief suborbital trip was carried out by US billionaire Jeff Bezos' space tourism company Blue Origin.

The Saturday expedition was the 16th crewed flight for the firm.

Also on board were former space engineer Hans Königsmann of Germany and four US entrepreneurs.

The New Shepard NS-37 launched off from a Bezos property in West Texas at 8:15 a.m. local time (1415 UTC) for a flight that lasted around 11 minutes.

The vessel reached an altitude of approximately 100 kilometers (around 62 miles).

The passengers experienced a brief moment of weightlessness as part of the trip.

Dozens of people have traveled to space with Blue Origin, including pop singer Katy Perry and former Star Trek actor William Shatner. The firm aims to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

'It was the coolest experience ever'

Benthaus, who is 33, was exuberant about her experience in space in comments made after her return to Earth.

"It was the coolest experience ever, honestly," the engineer, who works at the European Space Agency (ESA), said.

"I think you should never give up on your dreams. There's also sometimes just a low probability that it comes true," she said.

Benthaus sustained a spinal injury during a mountain bike accident at the age of 26 and now uses a wheelchair.

She called for the world to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.

"After my accident … I really, really figured out how inaccessible our world still is," she said, saying that facilities for disabled people are required in order to form an "inclusive society."

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko