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 later this year.

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 plans to conduct Flight 2 in the later part of 2022 and is expected to fly a combination of new and previous Ambassadors on its upcoming flight. More information will be released in the upcoming months, including information on how new Ambassador candidates can apply to participate in the second flight.

"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 how to be notified when applications open for Flight 2, will be released via https://astroaccess.org/.

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 here

Related Links
AstroAccess
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