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Nora Al-Matrooshi just became the first Arab woman to graduate from Nasa’s astronaut training programme.
With a background in mechanical engineering and experience in the oil industry, Nora AlMatrooshi was selected by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) in 2021 to undergo rigorous training at NASA.
The two-year training program emphasized critical skills such as spacewalking, robotics, space station systems, T-38 jet proficiency, and Russian language proficiency. Nora AlMatrooshi, alongside fellow Emirati Mohammad AlMulla and ten other candidates, emerges as a fully qualified astronaut. She is the first Emirati woman to be selected as an astronaut.
The Emirati astronauts belong to the second batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme, announced in 2021 by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai.
Graduating as part of the group known as “The Flies”, she is now eligible for NASA missions to the International Space Station (ISS), Artemis lunar missions and potentially the Mars expeditions.
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 integration on the global stage.
