'You can dream big': NASA scientist advocates for disability inclusion in space

NASA scientist K. Renee Horton is preparing for her first zero-gravity flight for people with disabilities.

“What we do is we make sure that the plane is going to be worthy of flying, that it's safe, and that we're able to complete our mission,” Horton says. “If we're not able to complete a full mission, to be able to meet the minimum requirements and to do it in a safe manner.”Horton says she has struggled with feeling overlooked in her industry for being Black, for being a woman and for being someone with hearing loss, which, at first glance, might be seen as an “invisible” disability.

Horton and her co-passengers will fly within the Earth's atmosphere in a way that allows them to experience zero-gravity, similar to the training that astronauts go through.“I always love this question because it's always those parents who do those things for kids… not knowing that it will make an impact on the rest of their lives. And so at nine, my dad and my mom got me a telescope. I had been wanting one, so it was my Christmas gift that year.”“Physics is a white-male-dominated field.

“I was a nontraditional student, so I actually started college at 16 [and] found out about my hearing disability between 17 and 18. And then I got pregnant, dropped out of school, traveled with my husband at the time following his career. And then I came back to school after ten years. Well, one of the things I would often hear my male colleagues say was, ‘You know, women belong at home with their children,’ because I had small children at the time.

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