A paraplegic engineer has become the first wheelchair user in space, blasting off with Blue Origin.

The Gainesville network engineer and 10 relatives had traveled to the Cocoa Beach Pier to watch the launch. “I would rather wait until Saturday for a healthy, safe launch than to bend the rules and launch unsafely." NASA had urged spectators to stay away and watch the launch online or on TV because of the pandemic. People started showing up at dawn to view the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station. About 90 minutes before the scheduled launch time, Gulf Coast resident Olga Cole and her family took refuge beneath the Cocoa Beach Pier during a downpour.