Paris: The first astronaut ever with a physical disability has been cleared for a mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), announced the European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday.

John McFall, a 43-year-old British surgeon and former paralympian who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 19, said he was “hugely proud” to clear the obstacle.

Since announcing McFall as a member of his astronautreserve in 2022, ESA has assessed the possibility of a person with a prosthesis becoming a crew member on a space mission.

On Friday, ESA announced that McFall had received medical approval for a long -term mission aboard the ISS.

McFall emphasized that he was “relatively passive” in the process, and just had to be medically healthy and perform the required tasks.

“This is far greater than me – this is a cultural shift,” he told an online press conference.

There is no date yet for when McFall gets his chance of becoming what ESA has called the first “parastronaut”.

“Now he is an astronaut like anyone else who wants to fly to the space station and wait for a missionary task,” said ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration, Daniel Neuenschwander.

ESA’s message comes as diversity, justice and inclusion (DEI) initiatives has been attacked by the new US administration of Donald Trump.

“We are now entering a world that changes a bit from a DEI perspective from one of our partners at International Space Station,” Neuenschwander said.

“We will continue with our European values,” he emphasized, adding that all ISS partners – which include the United States – had given McFall Medical Clearance.

The next phase of the feasibility study will look at some of the necessary hardware, including prosthetics, so McFall can best overcome any additional challenges in the room.

McFall said that technologies they are working on “will seep down and have benefits to prosthetic users in the wider community as well.”