Yayyy!!! The United Arab Emirates has announced its second batch of Space Program which includes the first-ever woman to be part of the squat. Salem AlMarri head of the astronaut program at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), mentioned last year that;
“We will select the best and the brightest from the people that applied,”… “I would love to see one or two of those seats go to a female Emirati.”
This amazing news was announced on the official Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Twitter account. He is the autocratic Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE.
We announce the first Arab female astronaut, among two new astronauts, selected from over 4,000 candidates to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Congratulations Noura Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla. pic.twitter.com/bfyquyzqAJ
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) April 10, 2021
In his commencement, he also mentioned that Noura al-Matroushi is the first female astronaut selected to receive training at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Space was her passion since childhood… Nora AlMatrooshi, the new member of the UAE Astronaut Programme.#UAEAstronauts #UAEAstronautProgramme@Astronaut_Nora @TheUAETRA pic.twitter.com/TEW5uip0EK
— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) April 10, 2021
The two aspiring astronauts Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammad AlMulla have been selected from the pool of 4305 applicants who will join Hazzaa AlMansoori and Sultan AlNeyadi, the first Emirati astronauts selected in 2018.
We wish Nora all the success in her Space Missions!
For the last 2 years, Emirates has been making some breakthroughs in their space program. In 2019, Hazzaa al-Mansoori becomes the first even Emirati in Space, spending 8 days mission in Internation Space Station. Just this February, UAE has launched its first spacecraft called Amal (Hope) in the orbit around Mars. As well as putting forward an ambitious goal to colonize Mars by 2117.
