A Briton will become the European Space Agency’s first disabled astronaut.
John McFaul, from Frimley, Surrey, has been chosen ESA Join its training program and possibly become the first disabled person in space.
The 41-year-old lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident at the age of 19 and went on to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics.
According to ESA, no major Western space agency has ever sent a “quasi-astronaut” into space.
Mr. McFaul was one of more than 22,500 candidates who applied, a list that includes more women than ever before and about 200 people with disabilities.
He will be one of four to six people announced at a news conference in Paris as Europe’s next astronauts, in addition to a reserve team of about 20 people.
Shortlisted candidates have undergone rigorous screening over the past year.
ESA is specifically looking for people with physical difficulties in an unprecedented effort to determine what adjustments are needed to accommodate them on the space station.