Paralympic medalist turned doctor set to become world's first disabled astronaut

By Ahn Hyo-jung, The Herald Business

A British doctor and Paralympic medalist is poised to become the world's first astronaut with a physical disability to orbit Earth.

The UK Space Agency announced Monday it had signed a memorandum of understanding to co-fund a mission sending John McFall, 45, to the Haven-1 space station operated by US private aerospace startup Vast, where he would carry out scientific research.

Haven-1, being developed as the world's first commercial space station, is scheduled to launch as early as next year.

The UK Space Agency said McFall's participation in the mission would allow him to conduct pioneering research into human physiology and musculoskeletal adaptation, the performance of prosthetic limbs in microgravity, and how people move and maintain balance in space.

McFall is a former sprinter and a reserve astronaut with the European Space Agency. He lost his right leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident in 2000, when he was 19, and went on to compete as a sprinter with a prosthetic limb. He won a bronze medal in the 100 meters at the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics and later qualified as an orthopedic surgeon with Britain's National Health Service. He is also a father of three.

In 2022, McFall joined an ESA project examining whether people with physical disabilities could carry out long-duration missions aboard a space station. He was cleared as fit last year and has been training at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany since 2023.

If he successfully reaches the space station, he will be the first Briton in orbit since Tim Peake in 2016.

In a statement released through the UK Space Agency, McFall said: "If we are successful in this mission, it will not only be a significant milestone in human spaceflight, but will send a powerful message about what people with disabilities can achieve — that there are no limits to what can be accomplished, whether on Earth or in space."