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Making space for women

The UAE is celebrating International Women’s Day a little early this year with news of the first female Emirati astronaut set to graduate from NASA.

Nora Al Matrooshi, NASA class of 2023, will graduate in March 2024 alongside her Emirati counterpart Mohammed Al Mulla, the National reports. The ceremony will take place in Houston, Texas.

Al Matrooshi, an engineer formerly of the National Petroleum Construction Co., was one of two candidates chosen from over 4,000 applicants for the 2021 NASA training program.

When she was initially selected, Al Matrooshi in a media conference said she was inspired to reach for the stars by one of her teachers who would set up a tent in the classroom and ask the students to try to imagine it was a spacecraft en route to the moon.

In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova of Russia became the first woman in space, but the next wasn’t until two decades later.

In 2020, Phys.org reported that only 11.5 percent of the 566 people who have gone to space were women, and the United Nations Space4Women program reports that 20-22 percent of the space workforce is women – virtually unchanged from what it was 30 years ago.

But the flight crews are increasing in female numbers and Al Matrooshi aims to be an inspiration for other young women: “If I can do it, then you can do it too. If no one has done it yet, then you just go ahead and be the first,” she said in a 2021 interview with The National.

This brings the Emirati astronaut count to four as the UAE space program grows and continues to rack up firsts.

CAPTION: International Space Station IMAGE: NASA

The first Emirati astronaut, Hazza al Mansouri, spent eight days aboard the International Space Station in 2022, followed by Sultan Al Neyadi with a six-month stay in 2023 and first Arab space walk.

Al Matrooshi’s graduation coincides with the most recent advancement in the UAE’s space program – a ticket to the moon.

The UAE recently agreed to provide NASA with an airlock for the Gateway lunar station, which will serve as an exchange center for crew and science payloads. The deal comes with UAE access to the station and a lunar mission. The deal comes with UAE access to the station and a lunar mission.

No decisions have been made about which UAE astronauts will be selected for the first UAE lunar mission.

According to NASA, the Lunar Gateway will record its first mission no sooner than 2028.

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UAE to help build lunar-orbiting station

The UAE’s deal to contribute the airlock for the planned lunar-orbiting Gateway station marks a significant milestone for the nation, a Khalifa University expert on the space sector says.

“The Gateway project is a fundamental part of the Artemis program and sets up the stage for further exploring the moon by developing and maintaining a manned space station in lunar orbit. The UAE’s recent partnership with NASA on this project highlights the country’s dedication to becoming a major player in the space sector in the coming years,” Mohamed Ramy El-Maarry, director of the Space and Planetary Science Center at Khalifa University, tells KUST Review.

Gateway, the space station expected to orbit the moon, will serve as a science lab and temporary lodging as astronauts explore the moon and test its materials. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre will provide the airlock that will allow people and supplies to enter and exit the station. The deal also includes the potential for UAE astronauts to participate in future moon missions.

President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Jan. 7 announced the project on X, formerly Twitter: “I was pleased to attend with my brother Mohammed bin Rashid the launch of the UAE’s contributions to the historic lunar Gateway, which will serve as humanity’s first space station around the moon.

“Through our long-term investment in space exploration and scientific innovation, the UAE is determined to work alongside its international partners to enable collective progress for all.”

The project is part of NASA’s Artemis program aimed at returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 and the next frontier — an eventual human mission to Mars.

IMAGE: Pixabay

The UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center is the latest member to join the international partnership of the lunar Gateway project consisting of the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Gateway is expected to serve as a layover for future missions deeper into the cosmos with a docking port, part of the airlock to be provided by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, for those deep-space missions.

The agreement reinforces scientific ties between the UAE and the United States.

“By combining our resources, scientific capacity and technical skill, the U.S. and UAE will further our collective vision for space and ensure it presents extraordinary opportunities for everyone here on Earth,” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who also chairs the U.S. National Space Council, said in a press release.

The UAE’s space program has moved at a rapid pace since its launch in 2017. Accomplishments include sending its first two UAE astronauts to the ISS and its first spacewalk.

In conjunction with NASA, Hazza al Mansoori completed an eight-day stay on the ISS in 2019. Sultan al Neyadi in 2023 completed six months on the ISS, numerous scientific experiments and the first space walk by an Arab.

It has been over five decades since a human walked on the moon but the UAE space program has its sights set on being there for a lunar-exploration revival.

Along with the crew airlock and ongoing engineering services to the ISS, the agreement with NASA includes UAE access to the space station and the opportunity for its own astronauts to embark on lunar missions.

NASA has scheduled a Jan. 31 town hall meeting about the Gateway project with presentations and panels.