In the United States, Emirati astronauts Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammad AlMulla recently concluded a series of training exercises as part of NASA’s 2021 astronaut candidate class training programme.

NASA released a video showcasing the highlights of their training regimen, documenting the duo’s perseverance as they undertook various challenges, such as survival training at Alabama’s Fort Novosel and conquering the art of suiting up at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center.

AlMatrooshi and AlMulla, who are a part of the second cohort of the UAE Astronaut Programme, were selected alongside ten of their NASA counterparts for the 2021 class of astronaut candidates.

Astronaut-eligible AlMatrooshi and AlMulla will graduate in early 2024.

The 10 candidates were carefully selected from a pool of over 12,000 applicants from across the United States for the NASA astronaut corps and are presently enduring training for the NASA astronaut corps candidate programme at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. They are scheduled to graduate as astronauts in early 2024.

Recently, the Emirati astronauts also visited the Marshall Space Flight Center. During the visit, they were able to interact with the centre’s leadership and learn more about Marshall’s missions, programs, and initiatives. In addition, they visited the V20 Thermal Vacuum Chamber, which is presently being utilized to simulate lunar environments and plume surface interaction for lunar landing scenario planning.

The UAE Astronaut Programme is one of the projects managed by MBRSC under the UAE’s National Space Programme and funded by the ICT Fund of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), which aims to support research and development in the ICT sector in the UAE and promote the country’s global integration.