{"id":344719,"date":"2025-12-12T16:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/344719\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T16:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:37:07","slug":"space-coast-launch-photographer-nears-recovery-from-2021-crash-after-18-surgeries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/344719\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Coast launch photographer nears recovery from 2021 crash after 18 surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 It took emergency crews nearly an hour to pull Jenny Hautmann from the wreckage of her crushed car<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.)<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is so fragile\u2026 and to have almost lost that\u2026 it was difficult,\u201d Hautmann said.<\/p>\n

Her list of injuries was extensive \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up breaking almost everything in my legs\u2026 one of my feet\u2026 multiple ribs\u2026 the left side of my face\u2026 and I had collapsed lungs and a ruptured spleen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hautmann was airlifted to Orlando Health, where orthopedic trauma surgeon Dr. Frank Avilucea took over her care.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had both limbs severely injured\u2026 bone loss\u2026 I knew this would not be a single surgery. This would be multiple procedures,\u201d Avilucea said.<\/p>\n

Over the next several years, Hautmann underwent 18 surgeries and had to relearn how to walk several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to relearn how to walk around three to four times\u2026 there were a lot of setbacks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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.)<\/p>\n

Now, doctors say her reconstructed bones are healing exactly as hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see where the bone has been completely reconstructed\u2026 and it\u2019s entirely united,\u201d Avilucea said.<\/p>\n

But even as her physical injuries mend, the emotional scars linger. Hautmann said she no longer drives on State Road 407, especially at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t go near that road anymore\u2026 I avoid two-lane roads, especially at night. Even if my route is an hour longer, I\u2019ll do that because it\u2019s safer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite the trauma, Hautmann is back doing what she loves: photographing rocket launches along Florida\u2019s Space Coast \u2014 grateful for the recovery that gave her that chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did he fix my legs and give me the ability to walk and stand again\u2026 he gave me my life back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

News 6 has requested crash data from the Florida Highway Patrol and Florida\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 It took emergency crews nearly an hour to pull Jenny Hautmann from the wreckage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[34722,15441,172461,79,193],"class_list":["post-344719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-brevard-county","tag-crash","tag-jenny-hautmann","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}