{"id":4969,"date":"2025-07-24T12:28:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astroaccess-and-blue-origin-partner-to-advance-accessibility-in-spaceflight\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T12:28:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:28:25","slug":"astroaccess-and-blue-origin-partner-to-advance-accessibility-in-spaceflight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astroaccess-and-blue-origin-partner-to-advance-accessibility-in-spaceflight\/","title":{"rendered":"AstroAccess and Blue Origin Partner to Advance Accessibility in Spaceflight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/1753329701949_638889265084142616.png\" width=\"712\" height=\"382\" alt=\"AstroAccess and Blue Origin Partner to Advance Accessibility in Spaceflight\" class=\"imageload removeImageattr\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/1753329701949_638889265084142616.png\" style=\"\"><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/1753329701949_638889265084142616.png\"><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"712\"><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"382\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>AstroAccess<\/strong> announces its collaboration with <strong>Blue Origin<\/strong> to make space exploration more accessible and inclusive for D\/deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) people on New Shepard. Blue Origin invited AstroAccess to a two-day workshop focused on enhancing spaceflight accessibility and developing best practices for DHH astronauts last summer at Launch Site One.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Ambassadors provided expert consultation on DHH accessibility, made detailed observations during training, and delivered a comprehensive report outlining recommendations to enhance the New Shepard spaceflight experience for DHH astronauts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget-layout related-content-also-read-box my-3\">\n<h4 class=\"mb-0\">Also Explore:Satellite Launches by Blue Origin<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p>The AstroAccess team included DHH Ambassadors Sheila Xu, Eric Shear, and Victoria (Vicky) Garcia as well as Executive Director Anna Voelker, AstroAccess American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting Lead Justin Baldi, and ASL interpreter Brooke Jensen.<\/p>\n<p>The AstroAccess Ambassadors represented the diverse spectrum of DHH experiences, including D\/deaf sign language users, oral hard-of-hearing individuals without hearing aids, and those with cochlear implants. The Ambassadors successfully completed standard astronaut training, marking a major milestone in demonstrating the readiness of DHH individuals for New Shepard missions. This work builds upon a legacy of DHH contributions to spaceflight, including the pioneering Gallaudet 11 in the 1950s-1960s.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe success of our training demonstrates that deaf and hard-of-hearing people possess the skills, expertise, and adaptability required for spaceflight,&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; <span style=\"color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;\">Sheila Xu, AstroAccess Ambassador. <em>&#8220;<\/em><\/span><em>We\u2019re one step closer to seeing a DHH astronaut in space, and I\u2019m honored to be part of this journey.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI applaud Blue Origin for ensuring that spaceflight is accessible to all. Together, we are increasing access to space, and I\u2019m excited to be part of this collaboration.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Victoria Garcia, AstroAccess Ambassador<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to see Blue Origin and New Shepard continue to pave the way for a more inclusive space community.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Eric Shear, AstroAccess Ambassador<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNew Shepard\u2019s mission is to provide access to space for all people, regardless of disability,\u201d<\/em> said Audrey Powers, Vice President of New Shepard Mission and Flight Operations at Blue Origin. <em>\u201cWe\u2019re proud to collaborate with AstroAccess to make even more progress toward that goal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>AstroAccess looks forward to continuing our collaboration with Blue Origin to pave the way for a more inclusive future, on Earth and beyond it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AstroAccess announces its collaboration with Blue Origin to make space exploration more accessible and inclusive for D\/deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) people on New Shepard. Blue Origin invited AstroAccess to a two-day workshop focused on enhancing spaceflight accessibility and developing best practices for DHH astronauts last summer at Launch Site One.&nbsp; The Ambassadors provided expert consultation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26,25,20],"class_list":["post-4969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ground","tag-launch","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}