Invited to address the prestigious World Space
Congress in Houston TX, Rick Hansen challenged the international space
community, including NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), to send a
person with spinal cord injury (SCI) into space as part of an aggressive
spinal cord research program. Hansen later met with NASA officials and
representatives of the CSA and is confident a researcher with a spinal cord
injury will study on the international space station by 2007.

“In the weightlessness of space, the wheelchair is irrelevant,” says
Hansen. “To have a person with a spinal cord injury conducting research on the
international space station would be an amazing symbol of the potential of a
person with a disability and show that there are truly no barriers.”

Hansen will engage with members of the Russian space program and believes
that within five years a person with SCI will be named the program’s primary
spinal cord injury researcher to do zero gravity research.

Space science can contribute much to improving the lives of people with
SCI. Research into the areas shared by astronauts and the SCI community
regarding muscle atrophy, bone density loss, neuro-regeneration and assistive
technology can bring people closer to full recovery after an injury.

The Challenge:

  • To establish a spinal cord injury research program on the international space station;
  • To establish a researcher with SCI as the primary spinal cord injury researcher on the international space station,
  • Provide a platform for non-profit organizations to raise awareness and to generate millions more dollars globally, in support of cures and quality of life on Earth.

Rick Hansen is President and CEO of the Rick Hansen Institute and founder
of the Rick Hansen Man In Motion Foundation, organizations created to help
find a cure and improve the health and quality of life for people with spinal
cord injuries. Hansen, who was injured at age 15, was an elite wheelchair
athlete, who raised $24 million and the world’s awareness about spinal cord
injury during the Man In Motion World Tour. To date, Rick Hansen’s work has
made an impact of over $137 million for spinal cord injury.