Emirati astronauts complete manned spaceflight training at NASA

Emirati astronauts Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammad AlMulla recently completed a series of training exercises in the United States as part of NASA’s 2021 astronaut candidate training program. NASA shared a video highlighting the highlights of their training regimen, documenting the duo’s resilience as they tackled a variety of challenges, from survival training at Fort Novosell, Alabama, to training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The Buoyancy Lab masters the art of dressing.

AlMatrooshi and AlMulla were part of the second cohort of the UAE Astronaut Program and were selected into the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class along with 10 of their NASA classmates. The 10 candidates for NASA’s astronaut corps were handpicked from more than 12,000 applicants across the United States and are currently undergoing Candidate Program training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They will graduate as flight-eligible astronauts in early 2024.

Emirati astronauts also recently visited the Marshall Space Flight Center. During their visit, they had the opportunity to meet with the center’s leadership and learn more about Marshall’s mission, programs and projects. They also toured the V20 thermal vacuum chamber, which is currently used to simulate the lunar environment and plume surface interactions for lunar landing scenario planning.

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