John McFall Is Breaking Barriers as the World’s First Parastronaut

John McFall , a Paralympic sprinter, has been inducted into the European Space Agency's astronaut corps .

McFall is the first physically disabled member of the ESA 's "Fly!" feasibility study.

The Fly! study aims to systematically assess the barriers that exist in spaceflight for individuals with physical disabilities.

Living in microgravity of low- Earth orbit leads to internal fluid shift and muscle atrophy, among other effects.

Until you actually do it, there are limited ways to replicate the conditions of low Earth orbit.

The actual spectrum of physical disabilities that this study covers is naturally limited—the testing is restricted to a single leg amputation specifically.

ESA and the U.K. Space Agency are world leaders in challenging people’s intuitions and perceptions of what an astronaut looks like. I don’t think that human space exploration should be the only place where this happens. I hope that as a result of this, people will continue to challenge the idea of what certain professionals look like. This is another example of challenging that narrative, and I hope to spread that message..