Mission: AstroAccess is taking people with disabilities on a ZERO-G flight - and applications are open!

Mission: AstroAccess is taking people to zero-g

AUGUST 5, 2021 - There’s an awesome opportunity coming up for people with disabilities who want to contribute to the next wave of spaceflight research. Mission: AstroAccess is currently recruiting a group of disabled scientists, veterans, students, athletes and artists for a ZERO-G parabolic flight mission (aka weightless), taking off on October 17th of this year, with plans for more flights in the future.

Here’s what AstroAccess has to say about what the chosen group will get up to: “These ‘AstroAccess Ambassadors’ will experience weightlessness and carry out lunar gravity, Martian gravity, and zero gravity observations and experiments investigating how the physical environment about space vessels should be modified so that all astronauts and explorers, regardless of disability on Earth, can live, work and thrive in space.” Their plan is also to have AstroAccess Ambassadors be public advocates for disability access in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (together commonly as STEM).

The AstroAccess program comes with some pretty heavy credentials: it’s supported through the Whitesides Foundation and is part of the SciAccess Initiative. It’s also financially supported by Yuri’s Night, a non-profit space advocacy that aims to “use the excitement and inspiration of space as a catalyst for educating and developing the next generation of explorers.”

Additionally, the team organizing the flight includes some of the world’s best disability advocates and space industry leaders.

If you’re interested in applying to join Mission: AstroAccess, here’s what you need to know. Applications are open to people who satisfy the following criteria. You must:

• Identify as disabled. This includes those who are deaf but don’t identify with the word “disabled”.

• Be 18 years of age or older.

• Be proficient in either English or American Sign Language.

• Live in the United States.

Applications are open through Sunday, August 15th, 2021 at 11:59pm PT.

To find out more about Mission: AstroAccess, and how to apply, visit astroaccess.org.