UK Paralympian John McFall to become First Disabled Astronaut

The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently announced 17 new astronaut candidates that will soon be training for missions to the International Space Station and eventually to the moon. Among the candidates is 41-year-old John McFall.

The space agency called for candidates to join their astronaut program last year. From all of the ESA's Member States and Associate Members, they received more than 22,500 legitimate applicants, including 257 for the role of an astronaut with a physical disability.

Express reports that McFall was the sole candidate for the "Parastronaut Feasibility Project," which aims to "improve our understanding of, and overcome, the barriers space flight presents for astronauts with a physical disability."

Paralympic Star to Space Explorer

John McFall joined the Royal College of Surgeons in 2016 and is currently a Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialist Registrar practicing in the south of England.

McFall is a well-accomplished man in different fields. McFall's right leg was amputated when he was 19 years old, but that did not stop him from achieving a wide assortment of feats.

In 2005, he started as a professional track and field athlete, representing the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as a Paralympic sprinter. As an athlete, John served on the UK Athletics Athlete Council as a representative.

Along with his medical studies, John became a mentor for the innovative Paralympic Inspiration Programme in 2012, a project assisting aspiring future Paralympians. He was also an ambassador and attaché for the International Paralympic Committee at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

From 2014 to 2016, John was a Foundation Doctor in the British National Health Service, where he worked in a variety of medical settings.

As an athlete, McFall bagged several awards, including a Paralympic Bronze Medal for the 100 m at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. You can read more about McFall and the successful new class of astronauts here.

To the Moon and Beyond

John McFall was one of the 2000 men and women from the United Kingdom who applied for the program.

He will be among a new class of astronauts who will report to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, for a year of basic training. They will enter the space station training phase before being assigned to specific missions.

After completing the 12-month basic training, the new astronauts will be ready to enter the next Space Station training phase, and their training will be tailored to specific mission tasks once assigned to a mission.

"When it was announced they were looking for a candidate with a physical disability, I thought it was such an exhilarating possibility, such a brave and bold thing to do," McFall said during the announcement of the new class of ESA astronauts.

McFall believes that his background and experiences can help ESA prove that someone with a physical disability can do meaningful work in space.