Space without barriers

The first space tourist in a wheelchair will go to Earth orbit. However, the goal of a 28-year-old Eddie Ndopu is not only to get where the disabled traveler has not yet come. Originally from South Africa, Eddie is an activist and humanitarian, he is going to appeal from space with a message to the UN General Assembly, in defense of the rights of young people with disabilities around the world.

MTV will be documenting his journey, “and follow his progress right from enlisting at an aerospace company, to his actual journey into space to deliver his amazing message: that anything is possible!”

“My disability is just one aspect of my life and I want to show the world that the words “disability” and “possibility” belong in the same sentence. I want to address the UN General Assembly from space to show young people who represent a cross-section of society that with a larger than life personality and a bit of human ingenuity, there's nothing one cannot achieve,” he said.

Eddie Ndopu was born in South Africa, the boy was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and predicted that he would not live for more than five years. Since then, Eddie has challenged all doctors' forecasts and challenges of fate, he became the first person with a disability from South Africa to graduate from Oxford University, launched his own social project in support of young people with disabilities and became the new ambassador for charity of the Humanity & Inclusion UK. In 2018, MTV called Eddie Ndopu one of the most influential people with disabilities on the planet.