UAE’s First Woman Astronaut Named for its Space Program, Will Undergo Training at NASA

The United Arab Emirates named the subsequent two astronauts in its area program Saturday, together with the nation’s first feminine astronaut. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai who additionally serves because the autocratically dominated nation’s prime minister and vp, named the 2 astronauts on Twitter. He recognized Noura al-Matroushi because the UAE’s first feminine astronaut. The announcement gave no biographical details about her or her male counterpart, Mohammed al-Mulla.

The two had been chosen amongst greater than 4,000 candidates within the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula that is additionally residence to Abu Dhabi. The two will endure coaching at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

In 2019, Maj. Hazzaa al-Mansoori turned the UAE’s first astronaut in area, spending an eight-day mission aboard the International Space Station. The Emirates has had different latest successes in its area program. This February, the UAE put its Amal, or Hope, satellite tv for pc in orbit round Mars, a primary for the Arab world. In 2024, the nation hopes to place an unmanned spacecraft on the moon.