ESA to test para-astronaut McFall's prosthetic leg for ‘space poisoning’ | All about it
McFall's prosthetic leg has sparked a concern on whether the leg could affect the air inside the space station.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will be carrying out tests to ensure that the prosthetic leg does not release any poisonous gases.
The 42-year-old John McFall is a former British Paralympian who was selected to join the ESA in November 2022. He is currently undergoing astronaut training to board the International Space Station (ISS).
At the age of 19, McFall lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident.
He later became a professional track and field athlete.
While speaking to the media, McFall said that the prosthetic socket is of carbon fiber and has high-density foam inside, which could release gases in the sealed space station. Adding that the fiber socket is impregnated with a resin while the foam is made with polymers.
«Those materials will continue to give off gases to one degree or another and in an environment like the ISS where the air is constantly recycled, any significant amount of gases that are produced from a material will be amplified over some time because they're not filtered out,» he said.
The feasibility study's objective is to support the ESA in assessing the implications of living and working in space as an amputee with a prosthesis and to assess potential solutions for any problems that could come up.
Moreover, the agency is also testing that the prosthetic leg complies with NASA standards.
A decision will be made on whether McFall can fly into space after the study in 2025.
He participated in the Beijing Games in 2008 and won a bronze medal. He had also taken part in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Paralympic Games.
According to ESA, no major Western space agency has ever
