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goPACK17 t1_ixix7w1 wrote

Has working and living in space reached the point where we can afford to provide accessibility? That's a pretty remarkable milestone tbh

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Man_Bear_Beaver t1_ixj6eup wrote

I'm assuming it doesn't matter too much if your legs don't work in zero g, that said I didn't read the article and this guys disability may be that he has a short attention span for all I know.

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Quay-Z t1_ixjccir wrote

The article is only a few sentences, but it makes it clear that this guy has only been selected for training as part of a study on the feasibility of physically disabled (although he is a Paralympian) people entering the space program. In other words; "THIS IS ONLY A TEST."

A long while ago, I was discussing this very thing with others on reddit. We came to the conclusion that although there was absolutely no perceived limitations for the (say) leg-less astronaut within the spacecraft, it was the possible scenario of escaping a crashed craft in gravity (and the need to be able to help others to do so) that was a large potential drawback compared to a fully-limbed individual.

Also there was the extremely problematic (although a little bit funny in a black humor/ironic way) issue of spacewalking. This was agreed as a much smaller issue, since not all people who go to space need to be able to perform a spacewalk for a given mission.

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