Dubai: Ninety-five nominees have been selected from the 4,022 applicants for the UAE Astronauts Programme, announced the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
The shortlisted candidates include 20 women, and 64 of the candidates are younger than 35 years.
Their specialisations vary from civil aviation and air force to engineering, medicine, police and teaching.
The candidates on the shortlist will now undergo intensive training programmes, starting with basic training that acquaints nominees with the programme’s goals and plans, teaches them the basics of specialised scientific fields, such as space engineering and scientific research. Candidates will also learn about procedures and systems applied in the International Space Station (ISS) and the Russian language.
They will undergo training in scientific research methods before progressing to the advanced and intensive training phase that includes robotics, navigation, medical aid and resource management.
Upon completion, an astronaut will be deemed ready and qualified to join missions to the ISS, and the target is to send the first Emirati to space in the coming years, while others will follow in subsequent missions to the ISS.
Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, chairman of MBRSC, said that these youths represent the UAE’s future and embody the aspirations of Emirati generations to shape the future.
Al Mansouri said that the applicants competing to be crowned winners in the astronauts programme embodies the spirit of Emirati youth that the wise UAE leadership has believed in ever since the UAE was founded.
He expressed his happiness with the high number of submissions to the UAE Astronauts Programme, adding that he was pleased with how the programme was positively received. This enthusiasm reaffirms the Emirati youths’ ambition and their determination to achieve the UAE’s goal of space exploration and the vision of the country’s leadership to train Emirati cadres who can contribute to enriching scientific progress that can benefit humanity.
Yousuf Hamad Al Sheibani, director-general of MBRSC, said that the UAE Astronauts Programme helps in accomplishing the national strategy to develop scientific cadres and prepare future generations according to the highest global standards, and fulfils their aspirations for space exploration.
He said that MBSRC looks forward to having its own national astronauts team that are capable of achieving the UAE’s ambitions in this field.
Al Sheibani pointed out that all applications have been screened carefully by a specialised committee, and that more than 200 applicants were forwarded for basic medical and psychometric examinations, then to detailed and advanced psychometric examinations to determine whether they can mentally, scientifically and physically handle adapting to different conditions.
