AstroAccess, an organization dedicated to promoting disability inclusion in space exploration alongside Space Frontier Foundation, an organization dedicated to the diversification and democratization of space, announced today that they will be flying a second cohort of disabled Ambassadors on a Zero Gravity Corporation flight on November 19, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. During the parabolic flight, the Ambassadors experience weightlessness and investigate microgravity accessibility solutions to make space travel accessible to everybody. This follows the historic inaugural flight of twelve Disability Ambassadors in October 2021.
The flight costs have been sponsored through a generous philanthropic donation from Dylan Taylor, a pioneer and visionary in the space exploration industry. Mr. Taylor supported AstroAccess as part of his Buy One, Give One pledge when he flew aboard the commercial Blue Origin New Shepard Mission NS-19 flight last December. The Buy One, Give One pledge is a call for all commercial astronauts to consider a set of gifts that will pay it forward and support organizations here on Earth. “I am thrilled to be working with AstroAccess and encourage others to join me in supporting its vital mission to make space exploration accessible for everyone,” says Mr. Taylor.
The AstroAccess Ambassadors will experience weightlessness akin to being on the moon, Mars, and in zero gravity. The goal of the flight experiments conducted during different simulated gravity situations is to investigate how the environment aboard space vessels can be best designed to create an equitable and inclusive experience – allowing anyone, regardless of their disability, to live, work, and thrive in space.
In addition to his support of this mission, Mr. Taylor supported 4 other organizations: Edesia Nutrition, The Brooke Owens Fellowship, The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, and Space for Humanity.
“We are so excited to make our official announcement of AstroAccess Flight 2 – our second fully chartered Zero-G flight,” says Anna Voelker, Executive Director of AstroAccess and
SciAccess, Inc. “We are incredibly grateful to Dylan for helping make this possible while also championing an incredible pledge that we hope others will follow.”
“This partnership demands accessibility and inclusivity in the space industry,” said Ann Kapusta, Executive Director of Space Frontier Foundation. “I am honored to, once again, work with AstroAccess and help establish a future for humanity in space that is inclusive and allows us to build a freer and more prosperous future among the stars—one that is representative of the diversity and richness of planet Earth, inclusive of the 15% of the global population with a disability.”
AstroAccess Flight 2 is expected to fly a combination of new and previous Ambassadors on its upcoming flight in November. Ambassador candidates interested in being considered as Disabled Researchers on Flight 2 are encouraged to submit their application through the AstroAccess website.
“By accelerating accessible design solutions, leveraging AstroAccess experiments and free enterprise that puts a focus on an equitable and diverse population’s ability to travel to space, we are expanding the opportunities for space exploration to everybody,” added Ann Kapusta. “Space Frontier Foundation is excited to be part of a project that is at the forefront of fundamentally transforming the exploration of space into a more widely accessible frontier.”
Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, an AstroAccess Flight 1 Ambassador and member of the leadership team, said, “I am so excited to welcome new Ambassadors into our team. I look forward to working with them on new experiment tasks based on our learnings from Flight 1, which was a life-changing experience for me.”
More details about AstroAccess including the application for Flight can be found at::https://astroaccess.org/.
About AstroAccess
AstroAccess is dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration for the benefit of humankind. The first mission successfully flew 12 individuals with disabilities on October 17, 2021 with the ultimate goal of flying one or more team members to space in the coming years. The project is supported through the Whitesides Foundation and is part of the SciAccess, Inc., an international organization dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in STEM. The fiscal sponsor of the project is Yuri’s Night, a non-profit space advocacy organization.
AstroAccess is funded entirely by charitable donations, which can be made via the website:https://astroaccess.org/
Edesia is a non-profit, social enterprise that makes life-saving ready-to-use foods to help end the global hunger and malnutrition crisis. Since 2010—through partnerships with UNICEF, the World Food Programme, USAID/USDA, and others—Edesia has nourished over 16 million children across 60 countries.
Edesia Nutrition helps feed people around the globe; charitable donations can be made here:https://www.edesianutrition.
The Brooke Owens Fellowship
Created to honor the legacy of a beloved space industry pioneer and accomplished pilot, Dawn Brooke Owens (1980 – 2016), the Brooke Owens Fellowship is designed to serve both as an inspiration and as a career boost to capable young women and other gender minorities who, like Brooke, aspire to explore our sky and stars, to shake up the aerospace industry, and to help their fellow people here on planet Earth. We do this by matching up to forty students per year with purpose-driven, paid internships at leading aerospace companies and organizations and with senior and executive level mentors.
The Brooke Owens Fellowship helps empower underrepresented people in the space industry; a contribution can be made here: http://www.
The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship
The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship’s mission is to provide a meaningful, effective pathway into successful aerospace careers and future aerospace industry leadership to people whose race and ethnicity has made them the subject of systemic bias. As they succeed in that goal, the drive meaningful change in the aerospace industry itself in terms of how it acknowledges and addresses matters of racial and ethnic equity and inclusion. An official spin-off of the award-winning Brooke Owens Fellowship, and based closely on that successful model, this fellowship’s program provides extraordinary Black students with their first work experience in the aerospace industry, personalized mentorship, and a cohort of similarly driven and talented young Black people pursuing aerospace careers.
The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is powered by generous donations that can be made here:https://donorbox.org/pgsf
Space for Humanity
Space for Humanity is organizing the planet’s first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, where leaders, from any walk of life, can apply for an opportunity to go to space and experience the Overview Effect: the cognitive shift in awareness that occurs when a human being looks down on the Earth from space. Each year, a new crew is selected from a diverse group of leaders from around the globe. Upon their return, each citizen astronaut has a commitment to leveraging that experience for the collective good. Through our citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, we are setting the stage to create the world we want, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos
This program is made possible by generous donations that can be made here:https://spaceforhumanity.org/
Ashley Bauman
Senior Vice President
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