BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – It took emergency crews nearly an hour to pull Jenny Hautmann from the wreckage of her crushed car. Four years and 18 surgeries later, the spaceflight photographer is finally nearing the end of a long, grueling recovery after a crash that nearly took her life.
Hautmann was driving on State Road 407 in Brevard County, heading to photograph a rocket launch, when a U-Haul truck plowed into her vehicle. The collision left her with catastrophic injuries.
Jenny Hautmann, 20, was driving this Tesla Model 3 on the way to a rocket launch on Oct. 16 when she was hit head-on by a U-Haul truck. It took Brevard County Rescue teams close to an hour to extract Hautmann from the Tesla. (Copyright 2021 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)Jenny Hautmann, 20, was driving this Tesla Model 3 on the way to a rocket launch on Oct. 16 when she was hit head-on by a U-Haul truck. It took Brevard County Rescue teams close to an hour to extract Hautmann from the Tesla. (Copyright 2021 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)
“Life is so fragile… and to have almost lost that… it was difficult,” Hautmann said.
Her list of injuries was extensive — broken bones throughout both legs, a damaged foot, multiple fractured ribs, trauma to the left side of her face, collapsed lungs and a ruptured spleen.
Jenny Hautmann and her remote-captured photograph of an ULA Atlas V lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday, Oct. 16. Photos courtesy of Supercluster. (Copyright 2021 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)
“I ended up breaking almost everything in my legs… one of my feet… multiple ribs… the left side of my face… and I had collapsed lungs and a ruptured spleen,” she said.
Hautmann was airlifted to Orlando Health, where orthopedic trauma surgeon Dr. Frank Avilucea took over her care.
“She had both limbs severely injured… bone loss… I knew this would not be a single surgery. This would be multiple procedures,” Avilucea said.
Over the next several years, Hautmann underwent 18 surgeries and had to relearn how to walk several times.
“I had to relearn how to walk around three to four times… there were a lot of setbacks,” she said.
Jenny Hautmann, 20, was driving this Tesla Model 3 on the way to a rocket launch on Oct. 16 when she was hit head-on by a U-Haul truck. It took Brevard County Rescue teams close to an hour to extract Hautmann from the Tesla. (Copyright 2021 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)
Now, doctors say her reconstructed bones are healing exactly as hoped.
“You can see where the bone has been completely reconstructed… and it’s entirely united,” Avilucea said.
But even as her physical injuries mend, the emotional scars linger. Hautmann said she no longer drives on State Road 407, especially at night.
“I don’t go near that road anymore… I avoid two-lane roads, especially at night. Even if my route is an hour longer, I’ll do that because it’s safer,” she said.
Despite the trauma, Hautmann is back doing what she loves: photographing rocket launches along Florida’s Space Coast — grateful for the recovery that gave her that chance.
“Not only did he fix my legs and give me the ability to walk and stand again… he gave me my life back,” she said.
News 6 has requested crash data from the Florida Highway Patrol and Florida’s Turnpike, including whether any lighting or safety improvements have been made along State Road 407 since the 2021 crash. That information will be reported when it becomes available.
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