Emirati engineer Nura Al Matrushi will be the first Arab woman to travel to space

MADRID, Apr 10. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Engineer Nura al Matrushi has been chosen to become the first woman from the United Arab Emirates, and an Arab woman in general terms, to travel into space within the ambitious space exploration program that the country has been developing for years.

“We announce the first Arab woman astronaut, part of the two new astronauts selected from more than 4,000 candidates to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Congratulations Nura al Matrushi and Mohamed al Mullah,” he announced in his account of Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Mohamed bin Rashid Twitter.

In 2019, Hazá al Mansuri became the first Emirati astronaut to travel to space, spending a week on the International Space Station.

Emirates have presented an ambitious space program, which includes the construction of a human settlement on Mars by the year 2117.

In February, its Amal (Hope) space probe entered the orbit of Mars, making the Persian Gulf country the first Arab state to launch a successful interplanetary mission.

The probe is expected to spend two years in orbit, capturing images and studying the planet’s atmosphere and seasonal changes. The data will be shared with the international scientific community.