Noura al-Matroushi – First Female Astronaut of The UAE

Noura al-Matroushi has become the first female astronaut of UAE, she is selected from four thousand applicants. She will get training from NASA for future space exploration missions. Noura will be accompanied by her male counterpart Mohammed al-Mulla, working as a pilot with Dubai police, for training at the Johnson Space Centre of NASA in Houston, Texas.

Who is Noura al-Matroushi?

• A promotional video by the UAE government, states that Noura al-Matroushi, born in 1993, is an engineer currently working at the Abu-Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Co.
• Some resources states that she has earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the UAE University. She has been Vice President of the Youth Council of National Petroleum Construction Co.
• She has also been a member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The UAE government, has also stated that if Noura goes on a mission, she will become the first Arab woman in space.

First Muslim woman in Space

• Anousheh Raissyan, who is an Iranian-American Telecommunication entrepreneur and millionaire from Dallas, Texas is the first Muslim woman in space as well as she is the first Iranian to do so.
• In the year 2006, she travelled as a self-funded civilian to the International Space Station- ISS. It has been reported that she had paid $20 million for the space travel.

The First Muslim in Space

• Sultan ibn Salman Al Saud was the first Muslim, the first Arab, the first Saudi Arabian citizen, and the first member of a royal family to fly in space.
• He was a pilot of Royal Saudi Air Force who flew aboard the American STS-51-G Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist
  from June 17 through June 24, 1985.

UAE Space Plans

• As reported by news agency WAM, The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre of the UAE has plans to send the first Arab mission to the Moon with Emirati astronauts by 2024.
• According to WAM, the nation space sector of UAE has already attracted around $5.98 billion in investments over the past few years.

The Bottom Line

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