Space Travel Awaits World’s First ‘Divyang’ Parastronaut

If everything goes as per plans, then 41-year-old Jack McFall from Britain will become the first physically challenged astronaut of the world to reach space. McFall has been chosen by the European Space Agency to be the first parastronaut to go into space.

To bring in diversity in its space exploration, the European Space Agency has announced the name of the first parastronaut among its newest batch of astronauts. This is a major effort to boost the morale of physically challenged people around the world.

McFall is a British citizen, who lost his right leg when he was 19. But he has competed in the Paralympics. His name was in the list of the final selection of astronauts by the European Space Agency, which was declared during a press conference in Paris. The list also includes two women, France’s Sophie Adenot and the UK’s Rosemary Coogan.

Till now no space agency has ever put a parastronaut into space.

But McFall will have to undergo rigorous training and feasibility study for two to three years, before he is finally chosen for space travel. The feasibility study will examine the basic hurdles for a parastronaut including how a physical disability might impact mission training and modifications that are needed in spacesuits and spacecraft for space travelers like him.

It will take five years for Macfall to fly into space if he is successful in the tests.