Story at a glance
- AstroAccess is on a mission to expand access to the space industry to those with disabilities.
- In October the group sent 12 space ambassadors to space to study how spacecraft could be modified to accommodate all astronauts, regardless of their disability on Earth.
- NASA has traditionally selected a small fragment of society to be astronauts, most of whom have been white and physically fit.
As the race to space continues to heat up, one company hopes to send disabled scientists, veterans, students, athletes and artists on parabolic flight missions with the intention to advance disability inclusion in the industry.
AstroAccess hopes to expand access to disabled astronauts so they can be considered trusted crew members that offer unique strengths and spur innovation. The company conducted an inaugural flight in October, sending 12 ambassadors on a parabolic flight to space to experience weightlessness.
The crew was made up of disabled scientists, veterans, engineers and artists who sought to assess how the physical environment on spacecraft could be modified to accommodate all astronauts, regardless of their disability on Earth, to be able to live, work and thrive in space.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the AstroAccess team to make space accessible by design. So often we make design decisions up front that are exclusionary to entire segments of the population. That’s why I’m so excited about space. Space, to me, is a blank canvas,” said Sina Bahram, AstroAccess’ flight 1 ambassador.
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Space flight has traditionally been available to a small fragment of society, with NASA initially only selecting white, physically fit men to be astronauts. Though the agency has evolved moderately, more than 70 percent of its workforce is white, with only 12 percent identifying as Black or African American and 8 percent as Asian American or Pacific Islander.
NASA currently requires astronaut applicants to be U.S. citizens, hold a masters’ degree in a STEM field, complete two years of related professional experience and be able to pass the agency’s long-duration flight astronaut physical.
For those with medical requirements, NASA says each crew member must be, “free of medical conditions,” that would impair a person’s ability to participate in spaceflight.
The rise of commercial spaceflight has challenged the traditional definition of who an astronaut can be, with SpaceX sending the first person with a prosthesis to space. Hayley Arceneaux experienced cancer as a child and had metal rods replace parts of the bones in her left leg, according to The New York Times.
Now, AstroAccess is taking a more significant step in trying to create a bridge for those with disabilities to partake in spaceflight. The company argues that disabled astronauts have inherent strengths and advantages, which NASA knows about.
In the late 1950s, NASA conducted a study to understand the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body and found that 11 deaf men reported no adverse physical effects after spending 12 straight days inside a 20-foot slow rotation room. Their non-deaf counterparts didn’t fare so well, with so many overcome with sea sicknesses that the experiment had to be canceled.
“NASA proved that deaf space flight participants would be more adaptable to the foreign gravitational environments, and yet there has never been a deaf astronaut,” said AstroAccess.
The group also pointed out that full-hearing crew members could also benefit from being fluent in sign language as it could facilitate nonverbal communication in any emergency situation that results in auditory anomalies.
According to AstroAccess, 26 percent of the U.S. population has a disability but only account for 8.4 percent of the country’s employed scientists and engineers. The group hopes that with the inclusion of disabled personnel, it will necessitate changes in space habitats, equipment, policies and procedures that will benefit everyone.
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