The United Arab Emirates has chosen a woman to train as an astronaut. Nora al-Matrooshi, 27, will be the first Arab woman to train to be an astronaut, Reuters reported. She will go to the US to become part of the NASA 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class.
Matrooshi, an Emirate national, is a mechanical engineer currently working at Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company. She was one of 4,300 applicants who was assessed on scientific abilities, education and practical experience, as well as on physical, psychological and medical assessments, according to Reuters, citing Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.
There currently are four people that make up the UAE Astronaut Programme. Among them is Hazza al-Mansouri, who flew to the International Space Statiopn in 2019. In February, the UAE landed a space probe on Mars.