Milestone Achievement: UAE's First Female Astronaut to Graduate from NASA Training Program

In a significant stride for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nora Al Matrooshi, a distinguished Emirati mechanical engineer, is poised to complete her training at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, in early March. The confirmation from NASA indicates that Nora, alongside her colleague Mohammed Al Mulla and 11 American astronaut candidates, will form the esteemed NASA astronaut class of 2023.

“My message to everyone is if I can do it, you can do it. And if no one has done it before then you can just go ahead and be the first, because if you have the ambition and drive you will find opportunities everywhere at any time.
I first started dreaming of becoming an astronaut when my teacher in kindergarten asked us to build a tent and pretend it was a spacecraft that was taking us to the Moon. Since then I’ve become extremely passionate about becoming an astronaut. I’ve been working in the oil and gas field for several years, but my dream of becoming an astronaut never went away. Now, I’ve started dreaming bigger.”

Upon graduation, they will be eligible for various space missions, including potential assignments to the International Space Station (ISS) and participation in upcoming U.S.-led missions, such as those planned for the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program.

Commencing their training in 2021, the candidates underwent an extensive array of courses at the Johnson Space Centre, covering areas such as land survival, flight training, spacesuit and spacewalks, and geology field training.

The graduation ceremonies for astronauts typically take place at the Johnson Space Centre, with the exact location and date to be confirmed by NASA in the coming weeks.

The significance of this achievement is underscored by the joint representation on NASA’s 2023 astronaut class patch, featuring both the U.S. and UAE flags. The patch, shaped like a fly, symbolically depicts an astronaut reaching for the Moon, with Mars in the background, aligning with NASA’s vision of establishing a human presence on the Moon and future endeavors to Mars under the Artemis program.

Notably, this follows the successful completion of the NASA training program by the UAE’s first two astronauts, Sultan Al Neyadi and Hazza Al Mansouri, in 2022. As part of the broader aspirations, all Emirati astronauts are anticipated to qualify for missions to the Lunar Gateway, with the UAE securing a spot for its astronaut on the Moon-orbiting station. In exchange for access to the station, the Emirates will contribute an airlock to the Lunar Gateway.

The anticipation is palpable as the UAE charts its course in space exploration, with the question of which Emirati astronaut will be the first to embark on a mission to the Gateway yet to be determined. The journey to the stars continues, marking a remarkable chapter in the UAE’s space odyssey.

“We have four astronauts and all of them will be trained,” Salem Al Marri, said Director General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.

“But this is not something that we can decide at this stage and as we get closer, and we start getting into the operational elements, then we get into mission selection.”