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'It was magical' - the first disabled crew to fly in zero-gravity
Description
While millions of people might dream about space travel, with the exacting requirements often expected of astronauts some disabled people might have counted themselves out...until now.
Mission: AstroAccess - a crew of disabled scientists, students and artists based in America - has just launched to make space travel accessible for all the right reasons.
Wouldn't it make sense if a shuttle could be navigated by a blind person so, if the lights went down, everyone could get around? And what about making sign language a requirement so everyone could be in on the conversation? Then again, how does signing work when you're floating upside down?
Mary Cooper, who has a prosthetic leg, and Sina Bahram, who is blind, are two of the crew members who set out to find answers to these questions on board Mission: AstroAccess's first parabolic flight where they floated around in zero gravity.
Presented by Beth Rose.
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Picture credit: Al Powers at Zero Gravity Corporation