UAE’s First Female Astronaut to Graduate From NASA Training Programme in March
The UAE’s first female astronaut is set to graduate from a NASA training programme in Houston, Texas, in early March, Nasa confirmed to sources on Monday.
Emirati mechanical engineer Nora Al Matrooshi, her colleague Mohammed Al Mulla, a former Dubai Police helicopter pilot, and 11 American astronaut candidates will graduate as part of the Nasa astronaut class of 2023.
They will then become eligible for space missions, including to the International Space Station, as well any other future US-led missions, such as trips to the Moon planned under NASA’s Artemis programme.
Since starting their training in 2021 at the Johnson Space Centre, the candidates have undergone a series of training courses, including land survival, flight training, spacesuit and spacewalks and geology field training.
Astronaut graduation ceremonies are held at the Johnson Space Centre, but NASA is expected to confirm the location and exact date in a few weeks.
NASA’s 2023 astronaut class patch features a US and UAE flag. The patch is shaped like a fly, and features an astronaut reaching for the Moon, with Mars pictured in the distance.
The design symbolises the space agency’s goal of a human presence on the Moon and, later, travel to Mars as part of the Artemis programme.
UAE’s first two astronauts – Sultan Al Neyadi, who returned from a six-month stint on the ISS in September, and Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space – completed the NASA training programme in 2022.
All Emirati astronauts will soon qualify for missions to the Lunar Gateway, as the UAE has secured a spot for one of its astronauts on the Moon-orbiting station.
The Emirates will supply an airlock for the Gateway in exchange for access to the station.
It is not yet decided which Emirati astronaut will be the first to go on a mission to the Gateway.
