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The European Space Agency is being lauded for expanding the pool of available personnel it can potentially send on future space missions. It medically cleared the first astronaut in history with a physical disability to conduct long-duration missions to the International Space Station. Astronaut John McFall passed all feasibility tests and now awaits a mission assignment alongside 11 other reserve ESA astronauts.
McFall was initially selected in the ESA 2022 astronaut class as part of a new feasibility study to see if astronauts with physical disabilities would be able to safely conduct meaningful work in space. McFall, who lost his right leg in a motorbike accident at 19, went on to become a Paralympian. With acceptance into the ESA program, he became the first “parastronaut.”
Over the past couple of years, McFall has participated in a number of studies and tests to see if he and his body can withstand the rigors of space travel. The ESA also investigated whether the ISS and its associated capsules and modules would require any modification to make it capable of safely supporting him and his needs, alongside those of the other astronauts. He’s now completed the medical portion of this training, meaning he’s officially been certified by a multinational medical board for long-duration missions to the ISS.
McFall pictured with other members of the 2022 ESA reserve astronaut class. Credit: ESA
“Let’s not underestimate all elements linked to safety procedures when you operate on the International Space Station,” said Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration (via SpaceNews). “In all honesty, I was personally expecting some eventual showstoppers there, and I’m really happy to see that we went through that and it’s behind us.”
In total, McFall completed checks and training on more than 80 different areas that astronauts are expected to be proficient in, including operating the ISS and associated spacecraft, crew support, and medical issues. Now cleared to join any future missions as a reservist, McFall doesn’t have any flight plans just yet. Indeed, with plans to retire the ISS in 2030, it’s possible that only the five career astronauts in the 2022 ESA class will see any time aboard the space station.
However, McFall has previously been suggested for certain private space missions, with one in particular coming from US private spare infrastructure developer, Axiom Space. Discussions between Axiom and the UK Space Agency are ongoing, according to McFall, though no plans have been made as of yet.
Axiom has previously leveraged the expertise of ESA reserve astronauts in other missions. In 2024, reservist Marcus Wandt flew to the ISS on Axiom Space’s Ax-3 as part of a private space mission. A follow-up Ax-4 is scheduled for Spring 2025 and will take Polish ESA reserve astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski to the ISS.
