25th February 2025
Millie Turner, Senior Technology & Science Reporter, The Sun
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/33134933/john-mcfall-first-astronaut-disability-training/
British astronaut-in-training John McFall, the first astronaut candidate with a physical disability, has been training with the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill ahead of potentially becoming the first physically disabled astronaut in history.
EVER wondered what it’s like to be an astronaut? Well, it requires a whole lot of ground work, literally.
Before a handful of skilled humans get launched into space, they must undergo rigorous training, from navigating microgravity to winter survival.
Hopeful astronaut-to-be, John McFall, is one of four training for a stint on the International Space Station (ISS) at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) base in Cologne, Germany this year.
While there’s no guarantee McFall, or any of his cohort, will ever see past the Karman line, they will be based in Cologne for at least a year to attend the official school of astronauts. He is the first astronaut candidate with a physical disability.
The former Paralympian and orthopaedic surgeon was selected in 2022 to work on a ground-breaking study to see if he can go to space safely.
McFall is an amputee, and lost the lower part of his right leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 19. The study found “no showstoppers” that would prevent an astronaut with a disability like McFall’s from joining long duration space missions, according to ESA.
"A lot of the training at this stage is theoretical stuff, so, the things that you need to know if you were to fly, but also things you need to know to communicate with people about the benefits of spaceflight. We've done quite a lot on how humans interact with each other, what we call human behaviour and performance. It's quite interesting reflecting on who you are as a character, and how your personality interacts with other people's personalities."
The Fly! Study
"We had to do a test to simulate changes in the fluid movement in your body, because when you go to space, the fluid shifts more up into your trunk and into your head and less into your legs. We wanted to try and understand affect the fit of my leg, the fit of my prosthesis in space."
Astronauts’ legs shrink between five and 10 per cent within hours of being in space – a change that persists throughout the mission. A prosthesis would need to be worn when exercising – which astronauts commit two hours a day to onboard the ISS.
To simulate the effects of microgravity, there was hardware testing on the stiffness of different running blades on an AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, a perfect solution for astronaut training. AlterG’s patented NASA Differential Air Pressure (DAP) technology utilises a special air chamber and an advanced calibration system to uniformly reduce gravitational load for unweighting from 100% to as low as 20% of body weight in precise 1% increments – without impeding natural gait mechanics. No other unweighting method delivers such precision and unparalleled control.
McFall (left) of Great Britain competing in the Men’s 100m T42 Final Athletics event at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China
McFall in a mockup of the International Space Station (ISS) at the European Space Agency base in Cologne, and experiecing zer-gravity for the first time.