John McFall: World's first disabled astronaut begins training

The world's first astronaut with a disability has arrived in Germany to begin training at the European Astronaut Centre.

Paralympian and former NHS surgeon John McFall joined the European Space Agency (ESA)'s group of astronauts last year after a selection process.

He said he hoped his example would help to "broaden people's appreciation of what people with disabilities can do".

John will spend two years working with experts looking at how facilities for astronauts can be made more accessible.

He will take on a range of astronaut training activities as part of a feasibility study, to work out how likely any project is to succeed to send a disabled astronaut into space.

His training includes sea survival and testing in low atmospheric pressure environments.

John has already had a chance to see how his prosthetic leg behaves in a zero-gravity environment, when he went on a special plane that recreates what it would be like in space.

He said: "I'm a naturally curious person and I'm excited about the learning ahead, the science that will come out of it, and the fact that this is the small first step of a much bigger journey."

His children who were aged nine, eight and five when he was selected, were also looking forward to moving to Germany, he said.

"It's helping to engage them, especially my two daughters, with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) learning, which is hugely important to me."

John said he hoped it would be the first step to getting more people into space and "making space accessible".

British Paralympian John was selected for astronaut training in November 2022

"I think it does deliver a very powerful message to humanity and educates people and broadens people's understanding and appreciation of what people with physical disabilities can do."

John was in a motorcycle accident when he was 19 and had his leg amputated above the knee.

He then became a professional track and field athlete competing in the Paralympics.

It is not yet known whether John will fly on a mission into space, but he joins a total of 17 new recruits, including British astronomer Rosemary Coogan who is guaranteed to head to space one day if she makes it through the ESA's training process.