When a colleague sent John McFall a job advertisement for would-be astronauts, his response was swift. “To be honest, all I had in my head was, ‘It would be great to go to space.’
Doing so, however, would mean shattering a glass ceiling — one that has held firm during more than six decades of space exploration.
Still he pushed forward. Three years after he received the post of the European Space AgencyMcFall is now on track to become the world’s first astronaut with a disability.
After losing his right leg aged 19 following a motorcycle accident, the Briton went on to become a Paralympic sprinter, winning bronze in Beijing and later a trauma and orthopedic surgeon.
McFall threw himself into the agency’s grueling selection process, making it through the six stages that ranged from hours-long psychomotor tests to panel interviews. In 2022, the agency announced it will join them in the effort to push the boundaries of space exploration by subscribing to their years-long effort to delve into whether someone with a physical disability can live and work in space.
“It’s very exciting,” McFall (43) said in an interview. “A common response is ‘why wasn’t this done earlier?'”
There is no guarantee that McFall can go into space. Instead, the agency methodically put itself through the requirements of a six-month mission to the International Space Station. “We need to provide data to demonstrate that it is possible,” he said. “So it’s not like people said, ‘you can’t do it, it’s not possible’. It’s more ‘we don’t doubt it’s possible, it’s just that no one has done it’.”
Since space operations are designed for able-bodied humans, the tests aim to investigate questions such as how McFall would move and stabilize himself in microgravity and how conditions in space would affect his prosthesis.
So far, all signs have suggested that spaceflight is within reach for McFall, raising hopes that he — or someone with a similar disability — could eventually train for an upcoming mission. “I would hope that between 2027 and the end of this decade we will see a European astronaut with a physical disability as part of the International Space Station crew.”
While the agency’s findings are specific to McFall, part of the project’s goal is to pave the way for others with disabilities – whether similar to McFall’s or not – to potentially follow in his path.
“We are challenging the narrative around physical disability,” said McFall. “And doing so creates discussion and breaks down stigma.”
That discussion includes the question of how exactly McFall should be referred to. Since starting at the European Space Agency, he has tried to gently push back against the widely used title of paratrooper. “I think it’s useful to have a conversation about it. What does that mean?” McFall asked.
“I’m not a para-surgeon, I’m a surgeon. I’m not a para dad, I’m a dad,” he said, describing it as a “slippery slope” to add para before anything done by someone with a physical disability. “And I think that if we continue to use it, it probably continues to create a divide, which is not necessary.”
It’s a view that points to the wider ramifications of his boundary-pushing efforts, which come as many with disabilities around the world continue to face deep discrimination. Data from across the EU suggests that people with disabilities is more likely to be unemployed and live below the poverty line.
In challenging people’s perception of what an astronaut looks like, McFall hopes to break some of this away. “By doing this, it’s an opportunity to create more opportunities for people with disabilities in a number of different professional fields,” he said.
“My job is to make sure people have a well-rounded and informed definition of disability and what disability means,” he added. “It’s not the kind of 1950s, 1920s version of disability, you know?”
